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Pondy minister may walk out on Moopanar

Our correspondent in Pondicherry

One-time Moopanar loyalist and senior Pondicherry minister P Kannan may walking out of the Tamil Maanila Congress, which he helped his mentor found.

Sources close to Kannan said he has been sidelined by TMC founder G K Moopanar, who has discovered a new favourite in Theni S Jayakumar.

"Kannan has done so much for the party in Pondicherry, but Moopanar has been ignoring his legitimate claims," said an aide of the minister.

Kannan, the all-powerful home minister in the erstwhile Dravida Munnetra Kazagham-TMC coalition ministry in Pondicherry, was the first to quit when the two parties parted ways on the eve of the parliamentary elections last year.

Kannan had his eyes on the chief minister's post when the TMC decided to pull the rug from under the feet of DMK chief minister R V Janakiraman. The alternative combination, involving the TMC and Congress, had more MLAs from the latter and chief ministership went the Congress way.

"The decision was based on the argument that the party with more MLAs should get the chief ministership," said a TMC leader. "It also meant that the TMC could get the chief ministership in Tamil Nadu, if a similar coalition wins the assembly polls next year."

What, however, has upset Kannan is Moopanar's insistence to accommodate another Pondy leader, Theni S Jayakumar, in the P Shanmugam-led coalition government in the union territory.

"Thus far, Moopanar got away with imposing his men in all strategic positions in the party. Now he has woken up to reality and is seeking to accommodate various groups and faction leaders in the government too, which has hurt Kannan's ego," said the leader.

He pointed out that Moopanar has changed his style of functioning. "There are fewer people crowding around him at the Satyamurthi Bhavan headquarters of the TMC in Chennai," said the Pondy leader. "There was a time when Moopanar would not stir out of Chennai without aides like Peter Alphonse. Now, he gives greater importance to local leaders," he added.

Kannan is said to have been piqued by Jayakumar getting crucial portfolios and he being denied the home portfolio.

He has also been sidelined by Chief Minister P Shanmugam. "We were not consulted before Speaker A V Subramaniam decided to disqualify Communist Party of India's A Manjini," the Kannan aide said.

Kannan has stayed away from two successive meetings of the TMC executive committee, at Chidambaram town, not far from Pondicherry, and in Chennai on Tuesday.

"Kannan is considering floating a new outfit," a TMC source said. "He is in touch with the Vanniar-strong Pattali Makkal Katchi led by Dr S Ramadoss.

However, Kannan's friends in the TMC have not lost hope. "He is upset and hurt, but not ready to quit, not as yet. He only wants Moopanar to call him and talk it out. Naturally, he feels threatened, after being allowed to run the party affairs in the past. A chat with Moopanar could help."

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