The “grand old” Congress has sets its sight on those born between 1996 and 2000, who will be exercising their voting rights for the first time in the State election.
As over 50% voters are aged less than 40 and 16 lakh young adults have enrolled as new voters across Karnataka ahead of the 15th Assembly elections due in April-May, the ruling Congress has decided to encash this fresh voting segment by launching an initiative called “Nanna Karnataka”.
It has been launched by younger Congress leaders such as KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ministers Krishna Byre Gowda, Priyank Kharge, U.T. Khader, and MLC Rizwan Arshad, with the support of senior leader and KPCC president G. Parameshwara.
“The aim of the programme is to connect with the effervescent and multicultural youths of the State who believe that positive change begins by empowering young minds,” said Mr. Rao.
After the first programme on February 20 in Bengaluru, the party has planned to organise 100 town hall meetings/dialogue sessions under the banner in major cities/towns across the State before elections. “The programme aims to provide a platform for the youth of Karnataka to voice their feelings and have an open dialogue with the younger leaders in the party in question and answer format,” explained Mr. Rao, who has been touring the State with party president Rahul Gandhi.
Mr. Kharge said the party would hold similar interactive sessions with other professionals and young entrepreneurs to learn from their experience. The party hopes to extend this to the next Lok Sabha elections too.
During an interaction in the city, young voters grilled party leaders with questions related to moral policing, Bengaluru’s traffic, availability of job opportunities, reservation, use of electronic voting machines, and ways and means to enter politics.
