Under attack from young MLAs, senior Congress leader P J Kurien, whose term in the Rajya Sabha ends next month, today said he had not approached anyone seeking another tenure and whatever decision the party takes was fully acceptable to him.
"I have not asked anyone for the Rajya Sabha seat. Whatever decision the party takes, it is fully acceptable to me. Why are the young MLAs attacking me?" Kurien said in a Facebook Post, a day after five MLAs openly aired their views against giving him another term in the upper House.
"The young MLAs, who are voicing their views now, are aged 25-28 years," Kurien said adding he had worked his way up in the party from the booth-mandalam level and slogged for 20 years.
In 1980, he was given a ticket to contest from Mavelikkara which he won and went on to represent the constituency five times and all the time he won the seat.
He also wanted to know if getting old was a crime.
"Should you insult the elderly by calling them 'aged'? he asked and wondered if their attitude would be like this to the elders in their homes.
Three Rajya Sabha seats from the state, including the one held by Kurien, the deputy chairman, will fall vacant on July 1.
The MLAs in the party from Kerala--V T Balram, Hibi Eden, Anil Akkara, Roji M John and Shafi Parambil-- had yesterday voiced their discontent against giving another chance to Kurien in the Upper house.
Hibi Eden, Congress MLA from Ernakulam, said the Rajya Sabha should not be seen as an 'old age home' and new set of people should come instead of tried and tested old faces.
"People are yearning for new programmes, new techniques. If that change does not happen in the RS polls, it will isolate the party from the people, particularly from youngsters and women," Eden had said.
Roji M John, MLA from Angamally, said the leaders who wish to remain in office till their end were a "curse" to the party.
Balaram, the Thrithala MLA, had wanted Kurien to declare on his own that he was not for another term and hoped that the senior leader would use this opportunity judiciously to bid adieu to parliamentary politics.
Anil Akkara, Wadakkancherry MLA, said it would be difficult to vote for Kurien if he was given another chance.
Kurien said he had never hankered for any positions in the party, but whatever responsibility was handed over to him he had done it "truthfully and with all sincerity."
"Those who say I should stay away, I do not have anything against them. But they should air their views in the party fora and not in the social media," he said.
Whatever decision the party takes, he would accept it happily, Kurien said.
Taking a dig at the youth brigade, the veteran leader said during his younger days, the Kerala Students Union and Youth Congress were "very strong" organisations.
"What is the situation of the organisations now? For this state of affairs, who should be blamed? Is the situation so because the elderly members have gone to the Rajya Sabha?" he asked.
Seventy seven-year-old Kurien was a Lok Sabha MP from 1980-1999 and was elected to the Rajya Sabha in July 2005.
He was elected deputy chairman in August 2012.
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