Congress to focus on youth, women’s issues in upcoming state polls

New Delhi: Making an early start in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the Congress would roll out a youth and women-centric campaign in the three election-bound states next month. The campaign, likely to be called Yuva Shakti, would revolve around three themes – unemployment, increasing cost of education and women’s security.

Yuva Shakti would start with an exercise of reaching out to youths in the 18-35 years age group and make them fill forms. The form, reviewed by ET, is like a mini-election manifesto for the youth. On one side are the promises the Congress is making in the three states and on the other side is the form which would be filled out by the youth.

A counterfoil at the bottom would be given to the person which would have a phone number. A missed call to this number would mean the person is registered BLOOMBERG with the party and if the Congress comes to power, the person would be entitled to the benefits. The major poll promises that the Congress would make to the youth include an express loan (including education loan and to start a small business), an unemployment allowance to a youth from below poverty line (BPL) family and reduction in postgraduate programmes fee.


A Congress functionary, who did not wish to be identified, told ET, “The programme would be rolled out in all states. It would be coordinated from a war room, where we would keep track of all missed calls being received. A state-wise database would be maintained to see the progress of the programme.”

A war room has been set up in Jaipur to coordinate Yuva Shakti programme. The campaign would follow internal discussions which underline the importance of youth voters in the polls.