Culture of money power must end: Rahul

The Congress party not only launched its 2009 Lok Sabha campaign today but also promoted Rahul Gandhi as its new face ahead of the polls. At the convention of the Block and District Congress leaders, party chief Sonia Gandhi or Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s faces’ appeared in just one place on the dais. The smiling young Gandhi donned the hoardings all around.

While the mother looked at the immediate agenda of winning the polls, Rahul Gandhi eyed long-term goals and demanded major reforms in the party. “Money power and recommendations from seniors are important to get posts in the organisation. If somehow a youth manages to enter the organisation, he needs money power and recommendations to move ahead. This wall between the youth and the politics must be broken,” Gandhi announced amidst applause.

As the party depends a lot on the “youth voters” to retain its power in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi too focused on the aspirations of the youth during his intervention. As the Congress leadership is about to start its ticket distribution for the upcoming polls, Gandhi today raked up another well-known fact that party-workers are denied election tickets in many occasions as the nomination culture prevails.

“You (workers) work through out the year for the party, but in the last moment, somebody else will be given ticket due to recommendations from the top. If we don’t even recognize the performance of our own people, how will the party survive?” he posed questions as central leaders including Sonia Gandhi listened patiently.