THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Youth Congress workers in Kerala have decided to take to crowdfunding to raise money for presenting a car to Congress' young MP Ramya Haridas, who is the lone woman Lok Sabha member from the state this time.
The debutant Ramya Haridas represents Alathur constituency in the lower house of Parliament. "We are planning crowdfunding exclusively among Congress workers and not from the general public. However, if anyone wants to contribute, they can," Palayam Pradeep, Alathur unit president of the Youth Congress said in his Facebook post.
Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly would hand over the keys of the vehicle to the Parliament member on August 9, he said.
Meanwhile, Ramya Haridas told PTI that she was happy and proud about the decision. "In the election, the Youth Congress had taken a massive effort in wresting back the constituency. I saw a Facebook post about this (crowd funding for the vehicle). I felt so happy," Haridas said. She claimed that no other youth organisation could come forward with such a "grand gesture."
The national Youth Congress coordinator said many people had offered a vehicle to her, but she had refused all of them. "I refused all such offers as it lacked transparency. But in this, the fund is not collected from outside. Today, Youth Congress does not need to collect money from the public. The account will be transparent," she said.
The Youth Congress has printed a coupon in its header, seeking funds to buy the car for their MP.