A section of Tamil Nadu Congress workers and leaders has demanded that party president Rahul Gandhi sack state president S Thirunavukkarasar for his alleged inability to protect the party’s interests.
Thirunavukkarasar, a former union minister, took over as Tamil Nadu Pradesh Congress Comittee (TNPCC) president in 2016. Loyalists of EVKS Elangovan, the former TNPCC president, have said they have lost confidence in Thirunavukkarasar.
R Sivaraman, former district president of the party in Kanchipuram, N Rengabasyam, former district president of Chennai Central, and L Vasanthraj, former Tiruvannamalai district president, Gandhi on Monday to complain about Thirunavukkarasar.
“Due to the poor TNPCC administration, the cadres of our party are losing hope. So, it is the need of the hour to make changes in the TNPCC administration, which we have pointed out to Rahulji,” Rengabasyam told Hindustan Times.
Rengabasyam said when Elangovan was TNPCC president in 2004, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. He said unless changes were made in TNPCC, it would not be able to achieve good results in 2019.
“Since Congress party has considerable electoral strength in the state, it should get ready for the LS [Lok Sabha] polls 2019 now. However, the PCC administration is neither active nor what they are doing is good. If things continue this way, DMK would allocate only just four LS seats. Also, the PCC administration is not having a good rapport with DMK high command as Thirunavukkarasar’s rapport is only with Stalin,” said the three Congress leaders in a petition they gave to Gandhi.
{{/usCountry}}“Since Congress party has considerable electoral strength in the state, it should get ready for the LS [Lok Sabha] polls 2019 now. However, the PCC administration is neither active nor what they are doing is good. If things continue this way, DMK would allocate only just four LS seats. Also, the PCC administration is not having a good rapport with DMK high command as Thirunavukkarasar’s rapport is only with Stalin,” said the three Congress leaders in a petition they gave to Gandhi.
{{/usCountry}}Thirunavukkarasar told Hindustan Times he has the support of his party in the state. “On the same day when these three workers met Rahul Gandhi, a few other office bearers too met him and expressed their goodwill about my leadership in the state. Rahul Gandhi knows what is happening in Tamil Nadu and he is happy with that. Also, I want to ask people who are questioning my relationship with DMK working president M K Stalin, should explain about their knowledge of the alliance status,” he told Hindustan Times.
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