Politicians above 70 years of age should limit themselves to advisory roles: Janardan Dwivedi

NEW DELHI: AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi has come out with a loaded suggestion: Politicians above 70 should quit active politics and limit themselves to advisory roles. Dwivedi told reporters that the Congress leadership could discuss and decide whether the agelimit should be even 65. He, however, clarified that he disagreed with Jairam Ramesh that Congress leaders should ‘retire’ after 70.

Dwivedi took care to exclude Congress president Sonia Gandhi from his age formula by saying the post of the Congress president was exceptional.

“Posts like that of presidents of political parties, President of India, Vice-President and Prime Minister may be treated as exceptions," he said. AICC had taken pot shots at BJP when it ‘forced retirement’ on LK Advani and MM Joshi from the parliamentary board. But Dwivedi said, “I am giving my view.”

“I have been of this view for a long time that there should be a timeline for people in public life, as it is in other walks of life…I am not saying that they should retire, but the posts which require a lot of running around and physical capacity should be held by people younger. There are other responsibilities which elder leaders can take up but they should keep away from active posts,” he said.