THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Youth Congress state leadership is not happy with the method of selection put forth by its national leadership to hold organisational elections. The YC state leadership was caught unawares by the national leadership's decision to hold an interview to select the person for the top post.
As per the proposals, the candidate who polls the maximum number of votes need not be the successor to incumbent Shafi Parambil as YC state president. The three candidates who poll the maximum votes will have to face an interview board which will select the YC president. The state leadership has objected to this method, as a similar interview mode implemented for choosing the YC president in Tamil Nadu and Manipur had backfired.
The national YC leadership announced elections at a time when the state unit is trying to arrive at a consensus to find Shafi's successor. The maximum age to contest has been set at 36 years which has hit the chances of one of the aspirants Manjukuttan, YC state secretary. He was part of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra and is a recipient of the prestigious Vanamitra Award instituted by the state forest department.
Former KSU president K M Abhijith has decided not to contest after he was recently chosen as NSUI general secretary. The other likely contestants are Rahul Mamkootathil, J S Akhil, Binu Chulliyil and Abdul Rasheed. The interview mode to elect the YC president has obviously not gone down well with the aspirants as they feel that finally it would go to the official group led by national general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal.
"We have already expressed our strong displeasure before the central leadership about the interview mode as it was not successful in Tamil Nadu and Manipur. Such a move is against democratic values. So hopefully the leader who gets the maximum number of votes would emerge as the state YC president," an aspirant told The New Indian Express.
While Akhil is an 'A' group nominee, the 'I' group's kitty has Binu Chulliyil and Abdul Rasheed. Rahul is close to Opposition Leader V D Satheesan. Akhil, who is serving as the national coordinator of the Indian Youth Congress, has been proactive in every protest meeting organised in Thiruvananthapuram and across the state. His name was considered in Kazhakoottam Assembly constituency in the 2021 elections which later went in favour of Dr S S Lal.
Rahul does not need any introduction as he is a popular YC face in TV debates. While the 'I' group's Binu Chulliyil belongs to Alappuzha and is a loyalist of K C Venugopal, Abdul Rasheed had contested from Taliparamba Assembly constituency in the 2021 elections. After the membership drive is launched, the seat aspirants will file their nominations to the State YC committee. The YC election will be held online and it will take at least two months for the process to end.