CHENNAI: Former Union minister and senior Congress leader G K Vasan on Saturday rubbished rumours on revival of the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) in the wake of Congress party’s rout in the Lok Sabha elections.
When a journalist wondered why he shouldn’t revive the TMC instead of making attempts to resolve the problems within the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, Vasan said: “that question does not arise now.” When reporters persisted, he said: “the rumours about the revival of TMC have been there ever since I have merged the party with Congress in 2002.”
Asked about the statements and counter-statements issued by Congress functionaries demanding the resignation of TNCC president B S Gnanadesikan and criticising former Union finance minister P Chidambaram, Vasan said: “The Congress faced the most unexpected defeat in the LS elections across the country. Tamil Nadu too witnessed the trend.” Responding to a question, Vasan said, “how can you hold an individual responsible for this defeat?” However, he did not mention the name of Gnanadesikan. Vasan further said discussing intra-party issues in public would not help the party grow. “At this juncture, what we need is unity and all should put in their efforts to rebuild the party,” he added.
On May 29, Karti Chidambaram, former MP K S Alagiri and many other loyalists of P Chidambaram, in a statement, held Gnanadesikan responsible for the defeat of the Congress in Tamil Nadu and demanded his resignation.
In a tit-for-tat, many Congress functionaries in the opposite camp, who are loyalists of various leaders, including G K Vasan, E V K S Elangovan and Gnanadesikan, came together and made many charges against Chidambaram.
For his part, Gnanadesikan regretted the statements issued by some functionaries and requested all of them to attend the meeting convened on June 7 to discuss the poll debacle.