Youth Cong: Kerala follows beaten track as family,patronage script win

Despite Rahul Gandhis repeated assertions to end the role of family,patronage and money to bring meritorious youths into the party fold

Despite Rahul Gandhis repeated assertions to end the role of family,patronage and money to bring meritorious youths into the party fold,organisational elections in the Youth Congress in many states have witnessed children of party leaders and those having blessings of veterans getting elected as office bearers. The latest the join the list is Kerala.

The Youth Congress elections the results of which was announced on Thursday saw Chief Minister Oommen Chandys son Chandy Oommen getting elected as one of the secretaries. He is not alone.

KPCC general secretary K M I Methars daughter Jebi Methar was elected as general secretary and so did the wards of INTUC vice-president and chairman of Kerala Marketfed V Sathyaseelan,former KPCC general secretary K K Bhasi and the late Congress leader Karumalil Sukumaran to name a few.

Interestingly,Rahul Gandhi had only recently told Congress MPs from Kerala that the party set up in the state was a model which other state units can emulate.

In fact,the elections itself was fought openly on the basis of group affiliations the A group controlled by Chandy and the I group led by KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala disregarding Gan-dhis sermons to free the IYC from patronage.

The candidates for the post of president had the open blessings of the two groups.

Interestingly,after the victory of A group nominee Deen Kuriakose as president over I group candidate C R Mahesh who became the vice-president many of the party leaders appeared on Malayalam television channels on behalf of their groups analysing defeat and victory of their respective camps. Over the years,IYC elections in many states have shown that Gandhis repeated assertions have fallen on deaf ears.

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Senior leaders have managed to scuttle his much-hyped democratisation process in the IYC,manipulating the membership drive first and the process of elections next by getting their relatives or loyalists elected as office-bearers.

In Uttarakhand,Union minister Harish Rawats son Anand Singh Rawat was elected president of the Youth Congress in 2011. In Himachal Pradesh,Virbhadra Singh son Vikramaditya Singh won the election to the post of president last year. The election was cancelled later citing irregularities. When fresh elections were conducted,Monica Bharti,the wife of Congress MLA Neeraj Bharti and nominee of the Virbhadra faction,won.

In Chhattisgarh,Uttam Kumar Vasudev who is considered close to Ajit Jogi was elected as president late last year.