THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former leaders of the KSU and District Congress Committees are coming together to fight against the so-called youth brigade in the Congress. Led by former KSU state general secretary Chempazhanthy Anil and KSU state secretary G Gopidas, the leaders are meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. They said former leaders from across the state will participate in the meeting which is primarily against the recent outbursts of the youth brigade.
Striking a united tone, Anil and Gopidas told Express, “We were the office-bearers of KSU and DCC for more than ten years. We had to fight street battles against the police and had to undergo brutal lathicharge and jail term for the organisation. We never did hunger strikes in AC halls, but fought against real police and not assembly watch and ward.”
They said the youth brigade got into party positions without working for the party. “Hibi Eden, for instance, came into the limelight following the death of his father George Eden, and was directly made the KSU Ernakulam district president and promoted as the state president immediately. Within a year, he became the NSU president,” Chempazhanthy Anil said. Gopidas asked, “What was his contribution to the party other than being the son of the late George Eden and a close associate of Ramesh Chennithala?”
These leaders also pointed out V T Balram MLA, who was in charge of Cheriyanad panchayat in the Chengannur Assembly constituency, “was present nowhere during the byelection and was not present during the Aruvikkara byelection either”. Former KSU leaders said, “We were not accommodated anywhere after spending long years for the party on the streets. After bearing the brunt of police brutality and toiling for the party, we never got any recognition.
This fight is for the recognition we need in the party, which is long overdue, and against those who are airdropped into party positions.”Anil and Gopidas were again united in saying, “There are hundreds of leaders of our time from the late eighties till 2004 who had been office-bearers of the KSU neither getting the necessary postings in the party nor any parliamentary posts. We also need positions and we will fight for that.” While respecting the senior leaders, their grouse is that they were not properly considered or accommodated.
They said the new generation of leaders never did any hard work other than putting posts on social media platforms to be in the limelight. Infighting in the Congress party in the state is continuing with no end in sight amid allegations. And with a new crop of leaders uniting against the young MLAs, things are turning murkier.