Thiruvananthapuram Corporation will mark a major milestone with the selection of 21-year-old Arya Rajendran as its Mayor, making her the country’s youngest one. Communist Party of India (Marxist) reportedly reached the decision at their District Secretariat, and many have termed it quite brave and monumental. At a time when the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation is the prime target of BJP, and when there are strong political opponents within the arena, selecting a 21-year-old to lead the charge is brave and some experts call it “reckless”.
The committee has decided to select Arya, who is a councillor from the Mudavanmukal ward and a second-year degree student at the All Saints College, over senior candidates such as Jameela Sreedharan. The situation was quite complicated since the position is reserved for women, and CPM’s AG Oleena and Pushpalatha were the leading candidates in the fray. However, Oleena lost to UDF’s Mary Pushpam A in Kunnukuzhy and Pushpalatha lost to BJP in Nedumcaud —both seats being LDF’s sitting seats added to the injury.
Following this, the party had to decide from its winners and choose a candidate with experience or someone young much as they did with VK Prashant. All this considered the new candidates were 65-year-old Jameela Sreedharan, who is the daughter of veteran party leader N Sreedharan, was the former Joint Director of Kerala Police Forensic Laboratory and had served as a member of the Public Service Commission. The young leading candidate was a PhD scholar Gayathri Babu, who is the daughter of Vanchiyoor Babu — the previous councillor of the Vanchiyoor ward. She was able to retain her father’s seat and is a qualified candidate.
However, by choosing Arya, the CPM District Committee has surprised a lot of people, but some believe that a young candidate can pull in more youngsters to the front. Arya isn’t unacquainted with the political world. She is an active member in student politics with being a state committee member and state president of Balasangham. She is the daughter of electrician Rajendran and LIC agent Sreelatha.
