Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi (MS)
New Delhi, Sep 16: The Congress which has suffered setback due to non-availability of young leaders for the past two years is likely to induct Kanhaiya Kumar, former JNU students’ union president and CPI leader, in their ranks. Kanhaiya met Rahul Gandhi and it is believed that the stage is set for his entry.
It is also learnt that senior Congress leaders are in touch with Jignesh Mevani, MLA of Gujarat. Congress had helped Mevani to win the contest in the last assembly elections by not fielding any candidate against him.
Rahul Gandhi (left) and Kanhaiya Kumar
According to sources Kanhaiya is not happy with party leadership in CPI and met Rahul Gandhi. However, D Raja, general secretary of CPI said that he has no knowledge about Kanhaiya’s joining of Congress. Raja also said that Kanhaiya had taken active part in the national executive meeting of CPI which was held earlier in September.
Though no confirmation in this regard is given by Kanhaiya it is learnt that Congress is looking at Kanhaiya to play a crucial role in the politics of Bihar where the party has lost ground for the past 30 years. In the last assembly elections Congress could muster only 19 out of the 70 seats it contested.
Senior Congress members believe that the induction of Kanhaiya and Mevani will inject new faces and boost the image of the party which had four prominent youth leaders like Jitin Prasada, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Sushmita Dev leaving in the past two years.
Some of the party leaders of Congress are not in favour of inducting Kanhaiya in the party as they believe that he will be difficult to contain considering his past record. The CPI had even censured him with disciplinary action, though of minor nature for the ruckus he created in the Patna office of the party in December last year.
The joining of Kumar, if goes through as expected, will be a boost to Congress as he can be used in campaigning for Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming elections as both SP and BSP have made it very clear that they will not unite with Congress in the elections.