Frustrated by oldies pulling strings to wangle Assembly seats again, the Youth Congress leaders of the state have rushed to Delhi to appeal to AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi for allocation of more seats to youngsters this time.
According to them, Union defence minister A.K. Antony, civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi and Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy, got a break in parliamentary politics at a very young age. They believe that the early break was the main reason for the successful career graph of these politicians.
With more than a fortnight left for the filing of nominations for the forthcoming elections, the state leaders are pinning their hopes on Mr Gandhi to get more seats.
The Youth Congress state president, P.C. Vishnu Nath, and the vice-president, M. Liju, are already in Delhi on a special mission.
Armed with a list of Congress leaders who have contested Assembly elections for four times or more, the Youth Congress leaders want to impress upon its national leadership that it is time for a change.
Of the 75 to 77 seats that the Congress is likely to contest in Kerala, the Youth Congress wants at least 25 to 30 seats, not just for its own members, but also for the students’ wing — KSU and Mahila Congress.
“We have already held first round of discussions with our national leadership,” Mr Liju told this newspaper.
This time the Youth Congress started lobbying early for more seats because of the disappointing experience it had during local bodies elections in October 2010.
A list of 2,500 prospective candidates for panchayats, municipalities and corporations was handed over to the Congress leadership then. And when the final list of the party candidates was out, the youth brigade was stunned to see that only 300 of them could find a place.