New Delhi, Sept 28: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday convened an introspection meeting with National Students’ Union of India leaders, including its in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar and president Vinod Jakhar, following the student outfit’s defeat in the Delhi University Students’ Union elections.
The meeting comes in the wake of the Congress’ student wing NSUI’s defeat on all four centraL panel seats.
The BJP’s students wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had won three out of four central panel seats, while an independent candidate, while NSUI rebel Deepanshu Shaukeen, clinched the post of vice president.
The meeting at 10 Janpath was also attended by Congress General Secretary Organisation KC Venugopal and lasted for over an hour. The senior party leaders had gathered to analyze the election debacle, review the candidate selection process, and assess the impact on the party’s outreach to youth and Gen Z voters.
After the meeting, Jakhar said, “The general thrust of the discussion has been that we need to work vigorously on strengthening the organisation; there were several other topics discussed as well.”
He also clarified that there was no specific discussion on DUSU.
“The main point is that it is our responsibility to improve things and engage with the campus more robustly… The day-by-day decline in the standard of education at the university is deeply concerning, and that is an area where we need to focus our efforts.”
Following the defeat in the DUSU polls, internal controversy erupted regarding ticket distribution, after multiple rebels, including Shaukeen and Vishesh Yadav, were denied tickets and contested independently, damaging the official candidates’ chances.