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Former TN Congress
chiefs continue to sulk

Former Tamil Nadu Congress party presidents K V Thangabalu and Thindivanam K Ramamurthy, and their supporters, who are still sulking over the appointment of E V K S Elangovan as party chief, do not plan to rush to the high command in New Delhi again, but to tour the state and rejuvenate the party.

"As senior party leaders and guardians of the party in the state, we cannot be silent spectators. Party workers are anguished. So, we are forced to raise our voices," Thangabalu stated.

On whether he planned to quit the party, like G K Moopanar, he replied in the negative. "Why should we split? We can never think of quitting the party. I have never defected. Our party is like our mother. We are the party, we are the real Congressmen and nobody can do anything to us."

The war in the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee started when party president Sonia Gandhi unceremoniously replaced Ramamurthy as chief with a ''virtual non-entity''.

This is not the first time that a president of the Tamil Nadu unit has been replaced, but this time Thangabalu joined hands with Ramamurthy, and voiced their protest.

Unfortunately, the high command does not seem to have heard them, although Thangabalu and Ramamurthy camped in New Delhi with their supporters and met Sonia several times.

Ramamurthy was shown the door by the high command in June 2000, but unlike his predecessors, he did not leave office silently. "It is a very wrong move by the Congress president, which will end the party's history in Tamil Nadu," he had said.

Ramamurthy's supporters even predicted a split, like in 1996, when Moopanar quit in protest against the high command's decision to ally with AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha.

Ramamurthy had given the high command three options: to allow him to continue as president, allow him to continue till the party's organisational elections or nominate a past president.

When the high command ignored his demands, he refused to vacate the party office and Elangovan had to find new premises for the party office.

Ramamurthy had the support of former presidents Thangabalu and Kumari Anandan, who were vociferous in their demand that state presidents should not be nominated by the high command but should be elected.

When Elangovan was renominated party president on January 10, Thangabalu, Ramamurthy and their supporters met under the pretext of celebrating Pongal and protested once again.

"Most Congress members wanted Elangovan out. This is what we have been asking for," Thangabalu told rediff.com.

He, however, added that he had not lost hope. "The high command will understand the feelings of the majority. We hope that intra-party democracy will prevail. We want the view of the majority to be accepted."

But Elangovan pooh-poohed their demand. "How many supporters do they have? Let them come forward with their supporters. Other than two people, they do not have a single supporter," he said, and went off to Delhi.

Thangabalu does not believe that Elangaovan has been renominated. ''He has only been asked to continue till elections are held."

But, Elangovan fumed: "What difference does it make? I am renominated by the high command as president and that is the reality."

Although Sonia did not listen to the demands of Thangabalu and his supporters, and reappointed Elangovan, he felt that the high command had listened to them.

"She has done a good job with the All-India Congress Committee membership nomination. We wanted the presidential election to be postponed and she agreed. We wanted the AICC members' and district Congress committee elections postponed. All these demands were accepted. We also want a person who has the respect and acceptance of all Congressmen as president. We have suggested many names." But Thangabalu refused to divulge the names.

The main grouse that Thangabalu and Ramamurthy have against Elangovan is that he is a deserter. Elangovan was with the Tiwari Congress before returning to the Congress.

Another grouse is that he has not convened a meeting of district presidents or office-bearers in eight months. Elangovan announced that elections were held in the 30 districts and in over 20 out of 35 districts, his supporters were declared elected.

Thangabalu, who had the support of most district committee presidents till "the elections" were held, decided to raise his voice. "The reality is that elections were not held in any district."

The war of words continues between past presidents and the present president. When Elangovan called them 'dissidents', they retorted: ''We are the real Congressmen and without us, there is no Congress in the state.''

When Elangovan demanded disciplinary action against the dissident leaders, they said, ''People will laugh at him. He has become a laughing stock.''

Elangovan felt that "by opposing my continuance, they are opposing the party high command".

But, Thangabalu replied, "Is he talking about us? We have always supported the high command. I am the number one supporter of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Before that, I have been a supporter of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. I don't have the habit of changing parties. I have been the loyalist number one in the state. But the other person has changed parties so many times! He has no business to talk about us."

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