Thiruvananthapuram: Breaking the general Congress tradition of keeping mum about the leadership even after a debilitating defeat at the polls, a youth leader in Kerala has put out a stinging criticism of the party’s top leadership.

Youth Congress vice-president C.R. Mahesh took to social media to pour out his angst over the Congress leadership, warning the organisation was fast losing ground in the country.

His comments come after setbacks for the Congress in the recent state elections.

Without mincing words, Mahesh said, “If the respected Rahul Gandhi is not interested in taking up the leadership and leading from the front, he must leave”.

Mahesh said it had been over a fortnight since the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee had become leaderless, after the resignation of KPCC president, V.M. Sudheeran.

“The party that should be leading the fight from the people’s side, against the governance failures of the BJP and the CPM ,is in fact in a leaderless silence,” Mahesh said.

The Youth Congress vice-president also held seniors in the party responsible for promoting various cliques, and surviving by splitting cadres and keeping some people loyal to them.

“The party leadership is happily watching as cliques are being promoted and student leaders of the Kerala Students Union are being lured to opposing camps and made to battle each other,” Mahesh said.

“The Congress leadership, which is watching casually as a great political institution is melting away at the federal and state levels, reminds one of the Roman emperor who played the fiddle while Rome burned. The hearts of those who love the party are bleeding,” Mahesh added.

The youth leader also trained his guns on former Kerala chief minister A.K. Antony, whom he described as a ‘mauni baba’ (an Indian seer who takes a vow of silence), asking him whether he was seeing the plight of the Kerala Students’ Union that Antony had nurtured, and how it had virtually become a cooperative society run by a few people.

Mahesh concluded by saying “we are willing to give our lives to ensure that the Indian National Congress does not die. But we cannot go on anymore with the evil practices of ‘settlement politics’, group fights, corruption, illegitimate wealth amassment, and the like”.

The Youth Congress vice-president’s comments come at a crucial time for the KPCC, as it searches for a new president.