Vice-presidents of State Youth Congress threaten to resign; boycott swearing-in ceremony
- Youth Congress elections were held between May 14 and 17, where Basanagouda Badarli was elected as the Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee
- Aside from the president, the KPYCC comprises of four vice-president, 11 general secretaries and 35 secretaries
- Most contenders were either kin of political heavyweights or were backed by them
- After Badarli emerged victorious, there were accusations of largescale irregularities during the elections
- Sources say that Kemparaju, Shivakumar, Rajendra and Tabrez were creating trouble, as they were “unable to digest their defeat”
FollowThe simmering discontent among the newly elected office bearers of the Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (KPYCC) is out in the open.
Alleging large scale irregularities during the recently held Youth Congress elections, and opposing the creation of one more vice-president post, all four vice-presidents have threatened to resign from the Committee.The quartet had also appealed to the Indian Youth Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja not to go ahead with the swearing-in ceremony for the new office bearers.
It’s another matter that the swearing-in ceremony was held on Wednesday with all fanfare, where Basanagouda Badarli was sworn-in as the KPYCC president. The event was attended by Raja, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, KPCC president G Parameshwara, KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, AICC secretaries and several senior party leaders.
However, vice-presidents Kemparaja K, Rajendra Rajanna, K Shivakumar and Sumaiaya Tabrez, and Secretary Umesh Boregowda boycotted the ceremony, and were not sworn-in as office bearers.
On the day of the swearing-in ceremony, a letter undersigned by the above said youth leaders was leaked to the media. The letter however contains no details about the person(s) it has been addressed to. Sources however said that the letter had been addressed to Raja.
The disgruntled leaders have sought the removal of Amruth Gowda, who too has been appointed as a vice-president. Though there are only four vice-president posts, the Election Commission of the Youth Congress, and Raja had decided to create the fifth vice-president post to accommodate Gowda. Sources said that this was done as both Gowda and Shivakumar had secured equal number of votes.
The complainants have however stated that this move had demoralised the cadres, office bearers of Pradesh Youth Congress and District Youth Congress, and also several leaders including Parameshwara and Rao. In the letter, they have appealed that the swearing-in ceremony should be held only after the election process was thoroughly probed.
“The swearing-in ceremony looks like an eyewash to the committed party workers who have high regard towards the system. If our demands are not answered, we will continue to fight for our rights and build the party staying outside the parameters of Youth Congress,” the letter states.
Sources said that the said leaders had also met with Siddaramaiah last week and requested him to postpone the swearing-in ceremony. The Chief Minister however did not indulge them. In turn, their absence is said to have irked Siddaramaiah, who is learnt to have told Badarli to reign them in to avoid any problems in the party ahead of the 2018 Assembly polls. Despite repeated attempts none of the five leaders were available for comment. It is however learnt that they met with Raja and aired their grouses after the swearing-in ceremony.
