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It isn’t easy to get into Rahul’s army

It is not easy to please Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. All the five candidates he shortlisted for the post of Bihar Youth Congress chief and sent on a four-day field project to Rae Bareli and Amethi in February as part of a test, failed to pass muster, reports Aurangzeb Naqshbandi.

Updated on: Jun 12, 2009, 24:58:46 IST
Hindustan Times | By , New Delhi
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It is not easy to please Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi (38).

HT Image
HT Image

All the five candidates he shortlisted for the post of Bihar Youth Congress chief and sent on a four-day field project to Rae Bareli and Amethi in February as part of a test, failed to pass muster.

An Indian Youth Congress (IYC) leader from Bihar told HT that Kesar Kumar Singh, Kumar Ashish, Bipin Bihari Yadav, Prem Shankar Jha and Anita Kumari were sent home midway through their field project in the Gandhi family pocket boroughs ahead of the 15th Lok Sabha polls.

Reason: party observers in the blocks assigned to the candidates sent negative reports about them.

Also, there had been newspaper reports alleging that Kesar and Ashish were involved in forgery cases.

While Ashish was accused of being involved in a maths question paper leak in Class XII exams in March 2005, Kesar was said to have already crossed the age bar of 35 years for being in the IYC.

The five candidates were chosen after Gandhi, AICC secretary in charge of IYC Jitendra Singh (37) and IYC president Ashok Tanwar (33) interviewed about 15 candidates shortlisted from among 203 CVs received for the post during a talent hunt in Bihar.

In the interview at Rahul’s Delhi residence in February, the candidates were asked about their political background, vision and agenda for the IYC.

With their failure, Team Rahul is all set to renew the exercise. “But this time, the person will be elected by IYC members,” said the source.

  • Aurangzeb Naqshbandi
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Aurangzeb Naqshbandi

    Aurangzeb Naqshbandi covers politics and keeps a close watch on developments in Jammu & Kashmir. He has been a journalist for 16 years.

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