The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee has plunged into a major crisis with EVKS Elangovan announcing his resignation as president of the State unit on Saturday. It was S Gopanna, the spokesman of the TNCC who announced that Elangovan has quit as TNCC chief owning the moral responsibility for the debacle of the Congress in the assembly election held on May 16.
The Congress, which contested the election as an ally of the DMK won eight of the 41 seats it was allotted by the Dravidian major. In the last assembly the Congress had only five members. “Elangovan has resigned from the post of president of the TNCC. He sent his resignation last week to party president Sonia Gandhi,” Gopanna said here on Saturday. Elangovan was not available for comments.
Elangovan was appointed as TNCC chief early 2014 and since then the party has seen many events including women party leaders filing police complaints against the former on various counts. But during the last two years Elangovan was in the forefront of all agitations against the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and the BJP at the Centre.
The period also saw many senior Congress leaders including P Chidambaram, KV Thangabalu and H Vasanthkumr meeting party president Sonia Gandhi many times demanding the ouster of Elangovan as State unit chief. last week Elangovan had suspended some of the party functionaries including Vishna Prasad, former MlA and son of former PCC chief M Krishnasamy for anti-party activities.
Since Elangovan has not issued any statements for or against the high command, one has to assume that there was no pressure on him to quit from the central leadership. “He would have understood the fact that the High Command was not happy with him. This resignation should have happened long back as Elangovan through his actions and words had earned many enemies,” said a senior TNCC leader.
Once the news about Elangovan was announced at the TNCC headquarters, lobbying for the post has begun immediately. One of the front runners for the post is S Thirunavakarassar, an AIADMK-turned-BJP-turned Congress leader. Thirunavakasassar, who has the image of a party-hopper, stands a better chance to be appointed as the TNCC chief since he is acceptable to DMK supremo M Karunanidhi also. The names of P Chidambaram, Peter Alphonse and H Vasanth Kumar are also in circulation.
There is a strong feeling that the High Command should consider someone young with experience for the post. There are young veterans like CD Meyyappan, who headed the Youth Congress for many years and known for their integrity and dedication. According to a senior Congress observer in Chennai, the high command should find out a new face for the party in Tamil Nadu. “The dissident leaders will approach the high command with the demand to ouster anybody who is appointed as the State party chief. Only a new and young person would be able to lead the party at this juncture,” said the observer.