High time that Rahul Gandhi forms his own team: Digvijay Singh

It is high time that Rahul Gandhi puts in place his own team, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said today.

"Now the time has come. Rajiv Gandhi had made me and Ahmed Patel state congress presidents when we were 36-37 years old. Now, our expiry date is nearing. I am confident Rahul Gandhi will make his own team," Singh said.

Singh's remarks assume significance as 40-year-old Rahul is being projected as the future leader and a potential prime minister by the party.

His comment also comes at a time when Congress president Sonia Gandhi was going into the issue of re-constituting the Congress Working Committee, the apex decision making body of the party which has 23 members besides her and prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Digvijay Singh is incharge of party affairs in Uttar Pradesh by virtue of which he has to work closely with Rahul, who represents Amethi in the Lok Sabha.

There have been suggestions from the AICC that the new CWC will have some new faces too in tune with the demographic profile of the country and taking into account the aspirations of all age groups.

A section of the party believes that the Congress president will undertake a major overhaul of the AICC secretariat following her re-election as party chief for the fourth consecutive term, making her the longest-serving Congress president.

Gandhi, in her address to the Congress plenary, also gave indications of greater representation to youth in the party.

"Grand old party, the Congress may be but it must be more than a party of age and experience. It must also be a party of youthful energy and vitality," she said welcoming the entry of more and more young people in the party's ranks.

The Congress president also spoke of holding study camp like Pachmarhi and Shimla conclaves noting that "it will be an occasion to hear the voices of our colleagues, particularly younger ones, to bring new energy to our thinking."