THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A group of senior Youth Congress leaders under the banner of ‘Revive Congress’ has requested Congress president Sonia Gandhi to stall group activities in the state unit. The group asked her to reconstitute KPCC to give adequate berths to youth leaders.
A team led by former State elected general secretaries Mathew Kuzhalnadan and D. V. Vinod Krishna, former State vice-president R. V. Rajesh, former national secretary Anil Thomas, former state general secretary Ajis Ben Mathews and ‘Aam Aadmi ka Sipahi’ coordinator Shaji Kodenkandath called on Ms Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday.
They insisted on a generational change in the leadership, but the move had not gone down well with the senior KPCC leaders. The youth leaders told Ms Gandhi that the major reason for the party's defeat was factional politics, ignoring winnability and merit in seat allocation.
The YC leaders pointed out that out of 22 seats won by the Congress in the Assembly elections, 10 were won by young candidates despite odds. Despite Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi asking the KPCC leadership to give adequate berths to youth at DCC and KPCC levels, the 'unanimous list' prepared by the group managers was cleared.
"Group quota system dividing party positions and seat positions has come as a curse for Congress in Kerala. The jumbo committees with 100 to 150 office-bearers in each DCC proved to be an utter failure. Party faced enormous damage in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Thrissur and Kozhikode districts because of the incapability of DCC presidents and jumbo committees," said a YC leader.
They also requested Ms Gandhi to appoint a central committee directly to probe BJP opening account through Nemom. They alleged that seat fixing was done by some of the senior sitting MLAs with the help of BJP to safeguard their constituency.
Sudheeran denies reports
KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran has denied news reports that there was a call for the change of guard at the conclusion of the two-day KPCC camp executive meeting on Monday. He rubbished all reports that had come in the media citing that they were all baseless and fabricated.
KPCC leadership especially Mr Sudheeran was harshly criticised at the meet. However, Sudheeran said there was no demand for his removal. “I am surprised about the news that certain leaders demanded a change of guard. None had pinpointed a particular leader at the meeting convened to discuss the poll debacle,” he said.
In the afternoon, he left for New Delhi where he is expected to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday and hand over the report on the outcome of the meeting held at Neyyar on the outskirts of the capital city.
