CPM fields youths for local body posts with eye on Kerala assembly polls
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After creating history by announcing 21-year-old Arya Rajendran as its mayoral candidate in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, the youngest to become the mayor in the country, the CPM continues to use the optics of its victory in a majority of local bodies ahead of the assembly elections, which are nearly five months away.
The decision to choose young candidates to head local bodies is expected to bring more acceptability for the party among the youth and women, and create headache for the divided opposition parties, especially UDF. For instance, after the youngest mayor, the party has decided to give the Aruvappalam panchayat president post in Pathanamthitta to the youngest candidate and winner in the state, Reshma Mariyam Jose, who filed her nomination papers hardly 24 hours after she turned 21.
In another instance, the party decided to give the chairperson’s post of Kunnamkulam Municipality to Seetha Ravindran, though the post is allotted to general category this time. The party has decided on her when a CPM area committee member and former municipality vice-chairman has won the election.
Earlier, CPM announced that Saruthi P will head Olavanna grama panchayat in Kozhikode. The 22-year-old, who hit the campaign trail on her Bullet motorcycle, had grabbed headlines and went viral on social media.
According to insiders, the decision to promote young persons in the civic bodies will not only help the party gain more popularity and acceptability among the public, but also create confusion in the opposition parties.
The Congress and IUML used to witness rebellion by their youth outfits before every election. The rebellion often leads to the UDF losing some of the sure seats.
Speaking to TNIE, CPM politburo member M A Baby said the party has an organisational, political and ideological stance of promoting young blood both in parliamentary and organisational positions.