The Congress high command has asked the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) to rework the list of probable candidates for the Lok Sabha polls which it submitted to the Central Election Committee (CEC) last week, with a directive to infuse more young blood.
The amended list was submitted to the CEC by TNCC president B.S. Gnanadesikan on Monday evening.
A highly-placed source said the CEC which went through the TNCC list last week was of the view that it was “not robust enough.”
In line with the decision of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the high command wanted State units to include youth for all constituencies with information on their track record.
Such young candidates should preferably be those who have electoral experience or have displayed great organisational skills at the constituency level.
“The party wants to have 35 to 40 per cent young candidates in every State list in the age group of 35 to 45 years,” the leader added.
Another leader said the high command had already forwarded three young leaders’ names, to be considered for party tickets: R. Mohan Kumaramangalam, son of former Union Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, for Salem; Na. Se. Rajesh, son of Na. Se. Ramachandran, who joined the Congress from the BJP, for Arakkonam and Vijay Elansezhian, son of former MP A. Jayamohan, for Vellore.
However, TNCC leaders were of the view that young candidates should not be included just for the sake of doing so.
A senior leader said the party lost miserably in 12 assembly constituencies in 2011 for which young leaders were selected by the team formed by Mr. Gandhi.
This view has also been communicated to the central leadership.
