“Mission accomplished and it’s time to say goodbye”, appears to be the message of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi to Team Youth Congress.
Amid talks of an impending elevation of the Congress general secretary for a larger role within the Congress, Mr Gandhi, in an SMS to Team Youth Congress, complimented them for having achieved the rare honours of “delivering election in the organisation in the whole country”.
Just few months after taking charge of the Youth Congress in 2007, Mr Gandhi had spelt out his mission for the organisation — elected office-bearers in the organisation in the whole country.
The mission appears accomplished, as the “election cycle” unveiled by Mr Gandhi in 2007 is complete except for Nagaland and Sikkim where the exercise is slated for conclusion in few days.
“IYC (Indian Youth Congress) team, yesterday we finished elections in Andhra Pradesh, I want to congratulate the entire IYC family for delivering elections in the entire country. It’s a proud moment for the IYC. We have done something fundamental and done it well,” Mr Gandhi wrote in his SMS to the team IYC.
At the end of the election cycle, the IYC now claims to have 5.30 lakh elected office-bearers across the country, while the membership in the organisation is pegged at 1.3 crore.
“We have achieved what no other political organisation in this country has been able to do. Well done. I am feeling very proud of the future generation of Congress leaders,” Mr Gandhi said, while concluding his text message.
The online magazine of the IYC claimed to have members drawn from varied fields, stretching from newspaper vendors to IT professionals.
Ravneet Singh Bittu was the first elected Youth Congress president in Punjab from where the election to elect the office-bearers spread to other states.
“Mr Gandhi has clearly accomplished the task that he had set out for himself when he took charge of the IYC five years ago. Now the job is done and he should take much larger responsibility within the Congress to lead the party in the bigger battle,” said a senior IYC functionary.