Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, scoffed at the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee for the showcause notice served on him for addressing a group of people against the wish of the party leadership. “The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee has no authority to take any disciplinary action against me and to issue showcause notice to me,” Karti is believed to have written to the TNCC chief.
In a meeting convened at his Chennai residence last week, the scion of the Chidambaram family formed a group titled G67, an initiative of people born after 1967, the year Congress was defeated in Tamil Nadu and from which loss the party is yet to recover.
The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee took strong exception to the move by Karti who is also reported to have praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an unpardonable sin by the Congress yardstick. The G67 was constituted to rejuvenate the re-energise the Congress in Tamil Nadu, according to Karti. All the invitees for the meeting were handpicked by the young Chidambaram.
He is reported to have replied to the showcause notice on Tuesday in which he has pointed out that the meeting he had convened was not a Congress party meeting. “It was a meeting with my friends from different parts of the State who wanted to meet me. The meeting has nothing to do with the Congress,” Karti told journalists. He said he being a member of the All India Congress Committee, the TNCC has no authority to issue showcause notice to him. EVKS Elangovan, TNCC president, told reporters that he was yet to get any reply from Karti.