What Youth Congress election results in Kerala say about new group equations in party (2024)

Kochi: The results of the Youth Congress elections in Kerala which were announced on Tuesday reflect the changing group equations within the party, though rather vaguely. The fading of the traditional ‘A’ vs ‘I’ boundaries, which began with the leadership change following the 2021 assembly polls debacle and the failing health of Oommen Chandy has become more evident in the Youth Congress election results.

Rahul Mamkoottathil, the firebrand face of the party in TV debates, is set to be announced as the state president succeeding Shafi Parambil. Rahul emerged the winner polling 2,21,986 votes against Abin Varkey.

Going by the traditional factional lingo of Congress politics, Rahul belongs to the ‘A’ group, once headed by A K Antony and then Oommen Chandy until his death earlier this year. Abin, meanwhile, belongs to the ‘I’ faction, once headed by political stalwart K Karunakaran and now by Ramesh Chennithala. However, it is not easy to interpret the results as the show of strength of one faction over the other as the traditional group structure of the party has undergone changes with leaders shifting allegiance or forming new power centres.

Rahul is a close confidant of Shafi Parambil, a prominent face of the ‘A’ group during and post the Oommen Chandy era. He was widely projected as Shafi’s nominee too. He also had the blessings of V D Satheesan who emerged to be a decision-maker in the state unit of the party with his anointment as the leader of the opposition. Satheesan, once a close confidant of Chennithala, used to be the face of the ‘I’ group. However, after taking over as the opposition leader he claimed that he would stay away from group activism. Satheesan along with AICC general secretary K C Venugopal then emerged to be another power centre. The two leaders, nevertheless, were not together in the Youth Congress polls. Rahul did not have the backing of Venugopal. Neither did Abin.

Venugopal, with his undisputed clout over the national leadership, enjoys the loyalty of a section of party state leadership at all levels. He, however, did not campaign for anyone in the Youth Congress polls. Aritha Babu of Alappuzha and Jineesh of Thrissur who have polled the votes to become state vice presidents are believed to be KC loyalists in the new group dynamics.

Chennithala who lost his opposition leader’s post to Satheesan following the 2021 rout joined hands with Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K Sudhakaran in the youth wing elections. The Chennithala wing of the traditional I group claims to have won the president post in three districts – Kollam, Alappuzha and Kasaragod – on their own and another four – Alappuzha, Kozhikode, Kottayam and Thrissur – where they supported nominees of other factions.

Kannur, Wayanad, Idukki, Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad went to the traditional A group while Pathanamthitta and Malappuram have Venugopal supporters at the helm. The result has been held back in Ernakulam. In his home turf Kannur, Sudhakaran suffered a setback as his nominee Farseen Majeed – known for his protest against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan onboard an Indigo flight – lost the poll for president post to A group’s Jijin Mohan.

A Kannur leader and a Sudhakaran loyalist blamed the overconfidence of their faction for the unexpected defeat. “Our faction has won eight out of the 11 assembly segments in the Youth Congress polls. Yet, we lost the president post. It’s because of supporters thought they could win all posts and split their votes among vice president nominees. Had they done their calculation better, Farseen would have won easily,” the leader told Onmanorama.

A young leader from Ernakulam looks upon the results as an indication of the crumbling of the group structure. “Rahul will not be able to remain as a representative of the A faction alone. He has got enough support from sections of the former I group and he will have to consider this while occupying his office. This was also an election in which the rumblings in the A group following the death of Oommen Chandy came out. In several districts, A group of supporters contested on their own challenging its leadership. This could be probably the last Youth Congress election contested on group basis,” he said.