Despite talks of infusing fresh blood, will the Congress again give out tickets mainly to sons and relatives of established leaders? Looks like it, with sons of at least several bigwigs in the party applying for tickets for the Maharashtra Assembly polls.
After the rout in the recent Lok Sabha elections, several top Congress leaders highlighted the need to infuse fresh blood in the party by fielding younger candidates. However, the definition of youngsters seems to be restricted to families of established leaders. Given their fathers’ influence, getting tickets will not be tough for these youngsters.
In Mumbai, sons of former ministers Kripashankar Singh and Baba Siddique are in the contest for tickets. Baba is eyeing Bandra East and Versova constituencies, one for his son Zeeshan, and the other for himself. He is reportedly unwilling to contest from his traditional seat of Bandra West, where he was defeated by BJP’s heavyweight leader and school education minister Ashish Shelar. Baba Sidique said, “My son has been active in Mumbai Youth Congress as district president and general secretary for last nine years and has won the internal elections with huge votes.”
Kripashankar Singh’s son Narendra Mohan is eyeing the Kalina seat represented by his father. Zeeshan, son of former state minister and former governor of Jharkhand Syed Ahmed, has sought the Congress ticket from Mumbadevi constituency. Amit Shetty, son of former Congress MLA Jaganath Shetty, is keen on contesting from his father’s Sion-Koliwada seat and has put his hat in the ring.