The top brass of the Tamil Nadu Congress, including state president B Manickam Tagore and MP Praveen Chakravarthy, met chief minister C Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat in Chennai on Monday.
The meeting assumes significance amid a row in the southern state following remarks by Congress minister S Rajesh Kumar that he and his colleague P Viswanathan would resign as ministers if the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) did not support Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2029 elections.
The Congress, which won five seats under the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, snapped ties with the DMK and formed an alliance with TVK after the April 23 Assembly elections were announced on May 4. The alliance requires 118 numbers to form the government.
After a gap of 59 years, the Congress has two representatives in the cabinet led by chief minister C Joseph Vijay. Rajesh Kumar is the tourism minister and MLA from Killiyoor assembly constituency in Kanniyakumari, while Viswanathan is the higher education minister and MLA from Melur constituency in Madurai district.
Trouble began in the TVK-Congress alliance after members of TVK started projecting Vijay as the next prime ministerial candidate, a stance that did not augur well with the Congress.
{{/usCountry}}Trouble began in the TVK-Congress alliance after members of TVK started projecting Vijay as the next prime ministerial candidate, a stance that did not augur well with the Congress.
{{/usCountry}}At an event in Madurai, social welfare and women empowerment minister K Jagadeshwari said, “our CM will be the next PM” amid thunderous support from the audience.
Similarly, human resource and management minister D Sarath Kumar, while speaking in the Assembly last week, said, “our leader (C Joseph Vijay) who is in our hearts and as the chief minister at the Fort (Fort St George, the Secretariat) you are our tomorrow’s Prime Minister for Bharat”.
The Congress has maintained that Rahul Gandhi would be its prime ministerial candidate, and Rajesh Kumar’s remarks followed the party’s stated position.
On August 29 in Kanniyakumari, Rajesh Kumar said, “If Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam does not accept our demand, the two Congress ministers will not continue in the ministry.” He stressed that political parties may have different opinions, but Rahul Gandhi would be the only prime ministerial candidate for the Congress.
On Monday, Tagore and Chakravarthy called on Vijay at the Secretariat. The meeting lasted around 20 minutes, people aware of the matter said. However, what was discussed between the leaders was not known.
Meanwhile, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Congress’s erstwhile partner, backed its demand to project Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate.
DMK leader and spokesperson TKS Elangovan said the Congress stance was right and questioned TVK’s rationale for positioning Vijay for the top post.
“Congress is a major political party in the country and has ruled the nation for years. How can TVK want to project Vijay as the Prime Ministerial candidate? What the Congress leadership says is right”, Elangovan said.
Former minister and senior Congress leader S Thirunavukkarasu, however, claimed there was no dispute between TVK and Congress over the issue.
“It is only love between them. There is no dispute. He only claimed that he will tender resignation. He did not do so know?”, Thirunavukkarasu said.
Gandhi had attended Vijay’s swearing-in ceremony along with nine of his ministers on May 10, soon after TVK emerged victorious in the Assembly polls.
Besides the Congress, TVK has the support of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and Indian Union Muslim League, which won two Assembly seats each and also have ministerial representation in the cabinet. The two Left parties, Communist Party of India and CPI (Marxist), which won two seats, offer outside support to the TVK government.
HT has reached out to the TVK seeking their views on the matter but did not receive any response.