Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (NR)

Udupi, Aug 30: A membership drive in the state will be launched from September 6, by the All- India Youth Congress Committee, after a gap of four years, informed Anil Thomas, the Karnataka Pradesh Returning Officer (membership drive) here at a press conference held on Wednesday, August 28.

Speaking on the occasion Anil Thomas stated that the said drive is undertaken in order to infuse new blood into the democratic and secular movement and to strengthen the party at the grass-root level.

Giving details about the drive Thomas stated that 30 district returning officers had already been appointed and Manohar was the district returning officer for Udupi, Jai Shankar for Mangalore, M K Aravind for North Canara and G H Sreenivas for Shimoga.

The drive will be flagged off from Bangalore on September 6 by the AIYCC president Ashok Tanwa, who will also announce the formation of state, district and block level membership scrutiny committees. The target of the drive is to recruit around one lakh members to the party fold in the State, he declared.

Widespread publicity will be garnered in the form of panchayath level paadayatras which would be organised from September 9 to 15, added Thomas.

Eligibility criterion for the drive is that youths between the ages of 18 and 35 will be eligible for recruitment and a primary member would have to pay Rs 2 as membership fee and a youth, who introduced atleast nine members to the party could become an active member by paying Rs 25, Thomas further informed.

Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee general secretary Nivedith Alwa, KPCC member Manjunath Udyavar, District Congress Committee president Murali A Shetty, block Congress president Diwakar Kundar, treasurer Hareesh Kini, and others were present at the press meet.