New Delhi: Already in the soup for not being the potent opposition party in the Centre, India’s grand old party Indian National Congress is once again landed itself into a crisis that can well be touted as the signs of dissent from its youth party cadre.
Over three weeks after the polling for Indian Youth Congress in Karnataka were held, the party is yet to announce the results of the election, moving a directionless wind of dissent in the party’s youth quarters. Party workers and leaders have expressed their dissatisfaction over the delays in results which were to be declared on January 20, but the party has only postponed the announcement of results ever since.
The entire election process was spread over seven long months that kept the party’s youth busy in the election preps without letting them do any productive party work during the course. The grand old party has always pitched itself as the one that introduced IT to the country but is struggling internally to announce the results of its own youth wings results even after three weeks from the polling dates.
One of the major points of arguments in the party circles regarding the issue is also the use of an electronic voting system that was used for the election, while the party at large has been critical about the EVMs during national and state elections.
Some party workers who wished not to be named told Vartha Bharati, that the party cadre and especially those who have contested the election and are aspiring posts in the IYC also believe the use of ballot paper voting system could’ve been better as it provides transparency over the results as against to the rumors that have indicated post-election manipulation of results in EVMs and electronic voting systems.
The party’s election results’ authenticity received a major setback when the party withdrew block-level results, two days after announcing it. It has raised questions over the authenticity of the results. The party however has to answer as to why the results were withdrawn in the first place. Were there errors in the election results?
Users across social media platforms also questioned if the move to withdraw the already declared results was in accordance with the dissatisfaction of leaders of the party who were unhappy with the outcome of the election.
Efforts to get a comment from IYC National President Srinivas BV in this regard were unsuccessful. The story will be updated as and when we get an official statement from Srinivas.
Amidst all this, the Congress is leaving itself high and dry without any external interference, with people now questioning that if the party cannot be transparent, just, and accountable to its own youth cadre, how will it deal with the expectations, hopes, and trust of the people of the country if they win the General or State elections in the future.
The rumors flying thick and fast make it look like it’s a conspiracy to hurt the KPCC president DK Shivakumar who is leading the party in the next elections. He needs a strong youth leader by his side to face the elections. This internal groupism by some vested interests within the party will only end up damaging the party.
With the BJP simplifying its membership and election process, Congress with its outdated and questionable tactics is only widening the gap between itself and the grassroots level workers. A person can join BJP by merely giving a missed call on a number, while the Congress has an astringent and complicated process in place for anybody who wills to join them. The complicated process has so far only kept the youngsters from joining the party against a simplified process of merely having to dial a number.
The onus is now on the INC to come to its own rescue before it’s too late to come back from where it is sliding to. It will not be too far away when the party’s election process, authenticity, and the party itself at large will become a laughing stock.
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New Delhi (PTI): Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor hit out at the CPI on Tuesday, saying that it is ironic that the Left party which complains about Rahul Gandhi's candidature in Wayanad is "playing the BJP's game" in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Congress candidate from Thiruvananthapuram said the only effect of the CPI's campaign against him in the constituency is to divide the anti-BJP vote, "and they preach alliance dharma in Wayanad".
Tharoor, who has been representing Thiruvananthapuram for the past 15 years in the Lok Sabha, is eyeing a record fourth term.
He is facing BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Electronics and Information Technology. The CPI has fielded Pannian Raveendran in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat.
In a post on X, Tharoor said, "It's ironic that the same @cpofindia that complains about @RahulGandhi's candidature in Wayanad is playing the BJP's game in Thiruvananthapuram."
"The only effect of the CPI's campaign against me in Thiruvananthapuram is to divide the anti-BJP vote. And they preach alliance dharma in Wayanad!" the former Union minister said.
Last week, CPI general secretary D Raja had said that fielding Gandhi from Kerala's Wayanad is the Congress's prerogative but the public opinion is that a leader of his stature should have contested a seat where he could directly challenge the BJP whose ideology he is fighting.
On Gandhi contesting from Wayanad, from where the CPI has fielded D Raja's wife Annie Raja, the Left leader had told PTI, "The public opinion is that a leader of his stature should have contested against the BJP because we are fighting the BJP ideologically, politically, at national level and in the states. So, as a leader of this fight, he should have contested BJP directly. That is one opinion."
He had asked what was the message the Congress was trying to send by fielding Gandhi from Kerala, a state ruled by the Left Democratic Front at present.
"...If he wanted to contest any seat from the southern part of India, he could have chosen a seat in Karnataka or in Telangana, wherever to fight BJP directly," Raja had said, adding that it is public opinion, and not that of his party.
The Congress and the CPI are in alliance at the national level as part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) but in Kerala they are contesting against each other as part of the rival state blocs - United Democratic Front (UDF) and Left Democratic Front (LDF).