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| GK Vasan |
Chennai, Nov. 3: G.K. Vasan today broke away from the Congress and floated a new outfit that he said would ensure Tamil Nadu’s interests remained a “priority” but deferred the announcement on his party’s name and symbol.
The formal split came two days after the Congress high command appointed E.V.K.S. Elangovan as the party’s Tamil Nadu chief. Vasan’s nominee, B.S. Gnanadesikan, had quit as TNCC president, allegedly under pressure from the high command.
Later in the day, the Congress expelled Vasan.
The break-up ended a 12-year association since 2002 when Vasan merged with the Congress the Tamil Maanila Congress his late father G.K. Moopanar had floated in 1996.
As the Tamil Maanila Congress had been registered with the Election Commission by P. Chidambaram, Moopanar’s 1996 comrade who has since returned to the Congress, sources said Vasan’s supporters feared legal challenges if they registered the new outfit under the same name.
Hence a new name — most likely Kamaraj-Moopanar Congress — and a flag with a new symbol. The Tamil Maanila Congress’s symbol was the cycle. The new name and the symbol would be announced at a meeting later this month.
Vasan said the high command’s refusal to reward people with merit and popular support and its failure to speak up on important issues concerning Tamil Nadu at the appropriate time had weakened the Congress in the state. “Hence we want to strike out on a new path where Tamil Nadu’s interests (would) remain a priority without sacrificing national interest,” he told a media conference after meeting his supporters.
It was clear Vasan wanted to shake off the Sonia-Rahul Gandhi legacy: when he met his cadres, the backdrop had pictures of only Moopanar and K. Kamaraj, the original “kingmaker” in Indian politics.
Outside the Chennai hotel, too, where Vasan formally broke away, posters and festoons had no pictures of either Sonia or Rahul.
Asked if the Congress under Rahul had become a sinking ship, Vasan said: “Our party is the sailing ship in Tamil Nadu. As for Rahul Gandhi, he is a young leader and I wish him the best. I am in a different party (and) would like to talk only about my party which I want to make number one.”
The Congress hit back, expelling Vasan from the party. A PTI report quoted spokesperson Ajoy Kumar, who announced the expulsion, as saying the party took the decision on the basis of inappropriate comments Vasan had made about it and the leadership.
Vasan presented some veterans who the Congress was confident would stay back with the parent organisation. Former MP N. Viswanathan, who belonged to the Chidambaram camp, was seen along with former MLAs like Peter Alphonse and S.R. Balasubramaniam.
Two of the five Congress MLAs in the current Assembly also stood by Vasan. But former MP J.M. Haroon, who was in the Vasan camp till yesterday, jumped to the other side and garlanded Elangovan, the new state Congress chief.
“Congress leaders are spreading canards that we would join hands with the BJP to confuse our supporters from the minority communities. Vasan has already made it clear that our secular credentials will remain intact,” Alphonse said.
Congress watchers said the two sides would remain in a state of flux till Vasan’s promised public meeting in Tiruchy, where he plans to prove his support base.
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