Rajiv replay: Cabinet aims for the young turks

New Delhi: Amid talks of a Cabinet reshuffle, before the Budget Session of Parliament, of the Union Council of Ministers, the Congress indicated that the exercise may see many young faces.
Aiming for a young look, it seems the Cabinet will give a chance to the babalog brigade. CNN-IBN has learnt there are vacancies and being an election year the Congress is leaving no stone unturned in focusing on the youth.
MP Sachin Pilot, who was seen last year championing the cause of the Gujjars in their battle with the Meenas, is one of the young turks who may get a plum job. Elections are due in Rajasthan this year and Congress hopes to make a comeback.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, the articulate MP from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, may also be winner in the new Congress game plan. His state, too, is going to polls this year.
The cue was given by Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi recently when he complained of a disconnect between the youth and politicians.
The reality is that the Congress knows that with a fast eroding traditional votebank, it will help to climb on the youth bandwagon. The young may now become the new Congress voters with Rahul as their icon.
The party is falling back on the old Rajiv Gandhi formula. The former prime minister had lowered the age group, targetted the young voters and the Congress had come back to power with a huge margin in the past.
“The maximum number of Lok Sabha tickets were given to young politicians and that is why we are in Parliament today. The fact that so many of us are there shows that our party cares for young MPs,” Congress MP Jitin Prasad said.
Rahul’s statements wills obviously have an impact on this reshuffle and it seems Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have to accommodate as many young faces as possible to keep all the political tiers happy.