B.V. Srinivas, who hails from a non-political family in Bhadravati of Shivamogga district, is the first Kannadiga to occupy the coveted post of the president of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), which has produced several national leaders during the last few decades.
Interestingly, BJP’s incumbent youth wing president at the national level, Tejasvi Surya, is also from Karnataka.
Mr. Srinivas, 39, who was interim president of IYC for over a year now, was appointed full-time president of the organisation by AICC interim president Sonia Gandhi. He is the 18th president of IYC. Mr. Srinivas represented the Karnataka under-16 team. “The party has recognised my commitment and dedication to the work assigned to me and has given me a bigger responsibility now,” Mr. Srinivas told The Hindu on Thursday.
Born in a middle class family of the Balija community, Mr. Srinivas has neither money power nor any family member in politics. A student of National College, Basavanagudi, in Bengaluru, he began his political career as a NSUI member during college days. Later, he became a block Congress president of IYC, followed by positions at the district level and State level of IYC.
He shifted to the national capital when he was appointed as national secretary and later general secretary of IYC. He was appointed vice-president in 2018 for a year.
Being loyal to former Congress president and MP Rahul Gandhi, he was appointed the interim president of IYC in 2019 when Keshav Chand Yadav resigned from the post of the president after the party’s poor show in 2019 general elections.
On his new responsibility, Mr. Srinivas said: “Youth cannot be used only for raising slogans in political rallies. They have to be participants in decision-making process.”
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Mr. Srinivas launched several campaigns and protests focusing on unemployment, migrant crisis and set up a facility to enable migrants to travel in Shramik trains to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and other Northeastern States. It was under Mr. Srinivas’s leadership that the IYC organised “National Unemployment Day” on the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17.
