JOIN USMysorean elected State Youth Cong chief
The results of the election held recently, was announced on Saturday.
All these years, the president elect was either the one rubbing shoulders with the bigwigs in the party or the senior among the young faces, who were being nominated to the hot seat.
Nanjangud MLA V Sreenivasa Prasad was the first from Mysore to decorate the post way back in the year 1982 to 85.
It is also a matter of joy for the minority community here, for one among the brethren holding the reins.
Sitting MP and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Rahul Gandhi wanted to bring reforms in the organisational set up and hence he opted for elections to the youth wings.
Elected members of the booth committees in every district are the voters.
Rizwan polled 14,743 votes (according to available information) against his nearest rival Priyank Kharge son of union minister for labour M Mallikarjun Kharge, a Congress heavy weight.
Priyank secured 7,000 odd votes, with Rizwan claiming victory with a lead of seven thousand odd votes. According to sources, Rizwan is one of the close confidante of Rahul Gandhi.
Owing to the intimacy, Rizwan’s work in grassroot level was noticed and got him the post of KPYCC vice-president which he held till 2009. He was subsequently promoted to national level as All India Youth Congress Committee secretary.
When Deccan Herald contacted Rizwan he was on cloud nine for having won with a thumping majority. It was nothing short of an achievement for him, for having climbed the ladder of power from being the president of National Students Union of India (NSUI), Mysore wing (student wing of Congress), when he plunged into politics 14 years ago in the year 1996.
He has been the district vice-president of NSUI, besides being general secretary of both State and national units.
“I am extremely happy because the workers had made me their candidate and have retained the faith I had in them, by electing me”, said Rizwan. His message to the party workers is clear- one among them is elected as president and will stand by them in the coming days. He will be their voice and good programmes are in the pipeline.
Rizwan has inherited allegiance to Congress from his father R Q Arshad also a worker of the party. His father had unsuccessfully contested assembly polls from N R constituency thrice in-1983, 89 and also for another term. Twice he had contested as an independent against Azeez Sait.
A B Com graduate from St Philomena’s College here, Rizwan, now residing at Chamundi VIhar layout, has his roots in Bannimantap, the locality where he spent his nascent days.