Have requested Congress to let me continue in Kerala: YC state vice president Abin Varkey

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 14 (PTI) A day after being appointed a national secretary instead of being considered for the post of state president, Youth Congress Kerala leader Abin Varkey said on Tuesday that he was interested in continuing in the state and would request the party to allow it.

According to sources, the Congress(I) group under Ramesh Chennithala is upset about Varkey not being considered for the state Youth Congress chief post.

O J Janeesh, who had got significantly less votes than Varkey in the last elections in the youth outfit of the Congress, was on Monday appointed as the state president of the organisation.

Speaking to reporters, Varkey said that he has requested the party to let him continue in Kerala, especially in view of the upcoming local body and assembly polls in the state.

"I have humbly conveyed my interest to the party and will abide by its decision. I am a party person to the core. I live and breathe Congress. I have done everything it has demanded of me and will continue to do so.

"I will never go against the party's decision nor will I say a word contrary to it. I will not do anything that will tarnish its image. So, I am not challenging, I am only requesting," he said.

Regarding his appointment to the national leadership of the youth outfit, a post he had reportedly declined earlier, Varkey said that no position was "unimportant".

"I can work for the party even without a post," he added.

On being asked whether he, who got the second highest votes in the last elections in the Youth Congress, was being sidelined, Varkey contended that the party must have taken the decision after considering various factors and he accepted it.

He further said that party leaders in the state have expressed their views on the issue to the national leadership.

"Everyone in the party has the right to express their views, unlike other political organisations," he said.

Meanwhile, resentment is brewing in the old A and I groups of the Congress over the denial of opportunities for Abin Varkey and Abhijith -- two popular faces of the outfit -- to lead the State Youth Congress.

Sources within these groups said that a complaint will be lodged with the high command.

The groups feel that the appointments were made unilaterally, without taking into account the sentiments of senior party leaders and youth Congress workers from the state.

Sources said they believe that natural justice was denied to both Varkey, who was the vice president of the organisation, and Abhijith, a former president of the Kerala Students Union (KSU).

Sources said they would petition the high command against what they described as an authoritarian approach, which they believe could damage the organisation ahead of the crucial Assembly bypolls. PTI HMP HMP ROH