K. S. Sabarinath, Congress candidate for the Aruvikkara Assembly bye-election, on Wednesday debunked the ‘son rise’ politics, stating that the terminology was meant for politicians who had used their office to cut open careers for their off-springs.
He did not fall into that category since his father, G. Karthikeyan, had never promoted him and currently he was the UDF candidate from the constituency on the basis of the party leaders’ evaluation about the relative merits of fielding him.
Replying to a series of questions at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club, Mr. Sabarinath asserted that his best qualification as a candidate was that he was G Karthikeyan’s son. He was young, educated and a socially vibrant person. He had claims to political lineage. There were several capable leaders in the Youth Congress and Kerala Students Union, but there are times when certain things appear to be politically correct. His candidature was one such development, he said when asked whether his lateral entry into politics did not mar the prospects of several youth leaders who had adopted politics as a full-time occupation.
Mr. Sabarinath maintained that development and welfare should go hand in hand and the ‘development and care’ policy of the Oommen Chandy government was the best since it was inclusive. The Congress party was coming back into reckoning at the national level because it alone can carry all sections together.
He belonged to the new generation which firmly believed that Kerala should move forward. But the Left parties were pushing the State backwards by opposing development.
On his factional preferences, he said he was currently the Congress candidate and would continue to be so just like his father who was primarily a party man. He rebutted the charge that he was a purveyor of an apolitical culture. He was always part of the mainstream campus politics. As for his presence in Facebook, he said times were changing and it was natural for the youth to seek new medium for communication.
