Even as election fever grips Tamil Nadu with parties kickstarting their campaign and party offices bustling with hectic activity, the historic Sathyamurthy Bhavan here has been wearing a deserted look with not a single leader or ticket seeker or cadre of the Congress turning up at the State headquarters.
Since top TNCC leaders were in New Delhi to finalise the list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, scheduled for April 24 in the State, the ticket seekers were also camping in the national capital trying to pull strings at various levels, a functionary said.
In fact, none of the Congress leaders from the State, other than Union Minister G K Vasan, seemed to be in Tamil Nadu, said the functionary. Vasan too met his supporters and addressed the media at his office in Teynampet, where he hinted that no party was prepared to align with the Congress. But party men rued the fact that the State unit was not empowered to initiate alliance talks with other parties by the high command, which was also holding on to the candidate list. So TNCC president, B S Gnanadesikan, and other leaders were in Delhi, said a functionary, justifying the lack of activity at Sathyamurthy Bhavan. Another reason for the lack of enthusiasm is the view that the party’s popularity is at an all-time low. It was evident with Vasan and others declining to contest despite having all 39 seats at their disposal, said a functionary, adding that party candidates were unlikely to get back their security deposit in seats other than Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Puducherry.