The Hindu : New Delhi News : A leader with no political ambitions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

A leader with no political ambitions

Staff Reporter

Former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy's son wins St. Stephen's polls

NEW DELHI: He might vociferously claim that he has no political ambitions. But dressed for the part in a spotless white kurta and blue jeans, Chandy Oommen has won the first election of his life at St. Stephen's College here.

"I fought the election only because the students asked me to and not because my father is a politician," says Chandy, son of former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

"It is not a political platform contesting elections at St. Stephen's where no political party affiliations are allowed," he asserts.

Having polled 465 votes against his nearest competitor Parikshit Luthra who got 355, the fight for the post of the president was not really close.

"All the second year students were with Chandy. The third candidate was Karan Mathur who in his speech at the assembly admitted that he was just there for fun," said a student.

And with plenty of people rooting for Chandy because he is "simple and down to earth", it seems that his charm did work.

Quite different from the usual Delhi University election fare, the poll in the Capital's most sought after college is not about muscle power but more about "serious" issues.

"The college tends to be very closed. But this was not so about 20 years ago. I want to have more national level festivals and more interaction," says Chandy, a B.A. (Honours) student of History.

While the issues might have not been very different, Parikshit also wanted to bring about infrastructure developments and have more cultural interactions, but he unfortunately couldn't capture the imagination of the students.

And for Chandy, who wants just to be an ordinary boy studying in St. Stephen's, it is perhaps only the beginning.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi