New Delhi: With youth getting the lion`s share in invitations, the much-talked about Chintan Shivir of Congress being held in Jaipur this week has created heartburn in a section of the party.
Middle level leaders including former Union Ministers have been upset over their failure to get invitations despite being MPs and leaders for long.
These leaders are doubly upset that the peculiar way of granting large scale invitations to the office bearers of the youth congress and the NSUI have created a situation that their followers have got in but they have failed.
"What could be achieved by calling political greenhorns for such meets to decide on poll strategy?", a leader asked.
Another said a better option could have been having a separate meeting of the IYC and NSUI office bearers with the Congress President and Rahul Gandhi, who is in charge of these bodies.
The view of yet another leader was that it was hardly possible for doing a brainstorming session when the number of delegates run into hundreds.
With Rahul Gandhi virtually taking centre-stage in Congress politics, youth power is expected to come to the fore as never before during the party`s Chintan Shivir.
This is because for the first time around 160 members from Youth Congress and NSUI will be among the 350 participants during two-day conclave which has assumed importance in view of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
There were not more than five youth leaders in the earlier two such brainstorming sessions of the party at Panchmarhi and Shimla held in 1998 and 2003, respectively.
Central leaders are projecting the conclave as an attempt to arrive at a "harmonious blend of youth and experience" to get the party`s act together as a precursor to formation of UPA-III.
PTI
