KANNIYAKUMARI: The Kanniyakumari unit of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, which boycotted state-wide protest organised by the DMK against SIR on November 11, is planning to stage a separate protest in Nagercoil soon.
The cadres boycotted the November 11 protest allegedly because the picture of former CM K Kamaraj was not used in the protest and Rahul Gandhi’s photo did not figure prominently in posters and banners.
Floor leader of the Congress party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly and Killiyoor MLA S Rajesh Kumar told TNIE that the protest organizers did not use former CM Kamaraj’s photo in the backdrop of the protest. “Besides, our leader Rahul Gandhi’s photo appeared in small size,” he said.
Since Kamaraj had represented Nagercoil in Lok Sabha twice, the cadres felt offended at the omission of his image and functionaries of east, west and city units stayed away from the DMK-led protest. We planned to stage a protest on Monday, but it had to be cancelled due to a rain alert. We will conduct a protest soon and it will be led by Lok Sabha MP Vijay Vasanth,” he added.
Congress Nagercoil city district president JS Naveen Kumar said the party has a strong base in Kanniyakumari district and parties which allied with Congress won from the district.
“Our leader Rahul Gandhi had initiated the protest against vote theft. Not giving prominence to his photo and missing out Kamaraj;s photo made our cadres disappointed. The resentment still lingers,” he added.
DMK Kanniyakumari east district secretary and Nagercoil Mayor R Mahesh said the backdrop poster for the protest had come from Chennai. “Only images of leaders who are alive including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and TNCC chief K Selvaperunthagai were featured in it,” he said.