CHENNAI: AICC presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said he wants to be the voice of those who are clamouring for more respect in the party.
“We need to empower our grassroots workers at all levels. Currently, all decisions are taken in Delhi and people at the bottom level are just told what they have to do. We want to change that,” he said after paying floral tributes to late leader K Kamaraj in Guindy, Chennai.
Tharoor said he wanted to represent the dreams and hopes of young India just as Rajiv Gandhi attempted to do 40 years ago and succeeded in his initiation of the telecom revolution and IT revolution. “We need young and old, senior leaders and ordinary workers to join us in this great adventure of making Congress the party of young India,” he said.
The Congress leader was in Chennai to seek the support of party functionaries here. He interacted with them at the TNCC headquarters. “Ordinary workers want more access to the decision-makers in the party. If we empower our workers, they will feel a greater sense of ownership in the party and that is what I want,” Tharoor said in response to a question.
“I am getting an enormous amount of feedback from ordinary party workers, the young people, and delegates from the next generation, which is very gratifying to me because they are the future... I want Congress to be the party of young India,” the MP said.