The Rashtriya Lok Dal is set to launch an internship programme for youngsters hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in January next year as part of its youth outreach efforts.
The Sarathi Internship Programme will provide those in the age group of 21 to 30 years an opportunity to work with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary, party MPs and MLAs across Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
RLD’s national general secretary Trilok Tyagi told PTI, “The aim of this programme is that youth should get an opportunity to see the working of the MPs and MLAs of their respective areas. It will be a learning experience for the youngsters, who join the internship programme of the party. Apart from this, they will be doing social service.” “Through the internship, some youngsters will also manage to get some jobs. After gaining from here, some of the youngsters may become officers and public representatives, and move ahead in life. Doors of the future will open for them from here,” Tyagi said.
Elaborating about the programme, RLD spokesperson Ankur Saxena said, “Sarathi Internship Programme is a three-month-long programme, which will commence in January 2025 and conclude in March 2025.
It will provide an opportunity to the youngsters to work with the RLD president as well as MLAs and MPs across the states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
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“Through this programme, the youngsters will learn legislative and executive process, political campaigning, including social media, public policy and research during the duration of the internship,” Saxena said.
The interns will get an opportunity to work in offices across Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur and also do fieldwork around RLD assembly constituencies.
Throwing light on the eligibility aspect of the prospective interns, Saxena said that “priority” will be given to “graduates in social sciences, arts, development studies and law.
He added that “good research and writing skills, including computer skills” are also an eligibility criterion for the candidates.
Saxena claimed that a number of youngsters he met recently in Shahjahanpur, Bareilly, Hardoi and state capital Lucknow, have evinced interest in the Sarathi Internship Programme.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal was founded by Chaudhary Ajit Singh in 1998.
At present, the RLD has nine MLAs in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
In the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, the RLD has one MLA — Subhash Garg (from Bharatpur constituency) in the 200-member House.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, RLD contested as an ally of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, and its candidates — Chandan Chauhan (from Bijnor) and Rajkumar Sangwan (from Baghpat) emerged victorious.
In the recently held assembly bypolls, RLD’s Mithlesh Pal won the elections from Uttar Pradesh’s Meerapur in Muzaffarnagar district..
Earlier, in 2019, the BJP had roped in young talent from premier institutes like the IIM and IISc among others to work as interns and assist its MPs to become more effective in Parliament.
Forty students from the Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, National Law School of India University and National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences were attached with the MPs for the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha, the then BJP parliamentary party secretary Balasubrahmanyam Kamarsu had said.
