Chandigarh: Congress' chief ministerial candidate for 2017 Punjab Assembly elections Captain Amarinder Singh is wooing youngsters as his party tries to come back to power in the state.
As part of his outreach, Amarinder met more than 1200 young men and women in Chandigarh on Sunday and outlined his vision for the state. The youngsters came from 22 districts of Punjab and pledged to support the Captain.
During the three-hour long event, the youngsters received training on the various outreach programmes.
The training was conducted by I-PAC's outreach and digital media team. The youngsters also discussed issues concerning them and sought Amarinder’s blueprint for solving their problems.
"Youth will play a crucial role in deciding the political discourse. It is overwhelming to see such support from youngsters like you. I will not let you down or stop until I reinstill faith in the system among the youth of Punjab," Amarinder told the youngsters.
Nishika, a College Captain from Jalandhar, proudly wore a t-shirt with the logo Punjab Da Captain and pledged her support for Amarinder. "I will volunteer in social media," she said.
When Lakhvir Singh from Government Mohindra College was asked why he wants to work for Captain, he said, "Under the false pretense of Raj Nahi Seva (No rule but service), the Parkash Singh Badal government has taken control of all institutions and businesses in the state. Only Captain can bring back the glory days of Punjab."
Amarinder also exhorted the youth to actively participate in the political process.
"Both the party leadership and I have always supported more representation of youth in electoral politics. This time, too, I expect youth to represent more than 35-40% of Congress candidates," he said amidst cheers.
The groundwork to recruit youngsters and students began in March and April when I-PAC had reached out to various colleges across Punjab in the backdrop of Coffee With Captain events.
While many youngsters had expressed intetest to join Amarinder's campaign team, others contacted through the campaign’s Facebook Page - Punjab Da Captain.
The College and City Captains will now be integrated into various modules and will be part of campaign events in their districts, along with doubling up as Amarinder’s digital army.
Congress lost power in the 2007 elections to the Shiromani Akali Dal- Bharatiya Janata Party alliance which won in 2012 too.
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