Congress will have a new rising, says Sonia. Udaipur Declaration calls for connect with people, reforms

Sandeep Phukan Udaipur

Connect with the people, agitate on the streets and usher in organisational reforms — these three broad themes figured in the Udaipur Declaration adopted by the Congress on Sunday after three days of brainstorming at the Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir to be battle-ready for the next round of Assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Beginning with the 2024 Lok Sabha election, 50% of the party ticket would be given to people under 50 years of age in every election, be it to the Assembly or others. The Declaration also talked about fixing a retirement age for elected representatives but did not mention any cut-off age.

Expressing hope that the Congress will overcome its current state of affairs, party chief Sonia Gandhi announced a Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir from October 2 “to strengthen the bonds of social harmony that are under stress, preserve the foundational values of our Constitution and highlight the day-to-day concerns of crores of our people”.

“We will overcome. That is our determination. That is our Nav Sankalp [new resolve]. The Congress will have a new uday [rising]. That is our Nav Sankalp,” Ms. Gandhi told the concluding session of the chintan shivir.

In the social justice section of the Declaration, the party reiterated its stand of quota within quota in the women’s reservation Bill and support for the caste-based census but the proposal to seek reservation in private sector and separate reservation for Other Backward Classes in legislature and Parliament were not there in the final resolution.

The agriculture resolution backs minimum support price (MSP) with a legal guarantee, offering free power to farmers for irrigation and setting up a national debt relief commission while the economic resolution spoke of opposing ‘indiscriminate’ privatisation of public sector undertakings built over 70 years, criticised jobless growth and stressed on engaging with the new-age economy.

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