CHENNAI: It may be shattered and tattered across the country, but the Congress party seems have to no qualms over continuing to batter itself.
The party high command’s obsession with the mother and son is now stepping on the toes of the Tamil Nadu unit. Local satrap G K Vasan, whose faction is presently in control over the State unit, has reportedly expressed his displeasure with a directive from the high command to remove the picture of party stalwart K Kamaraj from the membership cards issued by the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC).
Sources in the party confirmed that the face-off happened at a meeting of the AICC, which took place in Delhi on Tuesday. “AICC had instructed that only Sonia and Rahul Gandhi’s pictures should be on membership cards issued by party units across the country. It had also asked that Kamaraj’s picture be removed from the TNCC cards. Vasan protested to this at the meeting itself,” said sources close to the former union minister.
With the deed done, the Vasan camp is waiting for the blowback from the high command. “We do not know what will happen. Vasan, and all of us in the Tamil Nadu State unit irrespective of the factions, will stand firm on this,” said a senior Vasan aide.
Members of the Vasan camp have said the use of Kamaraj’s picture is motivated by the acceptability his stature commands across the various factional lines.
Members of other factions within the Tamil Nadu State unit took a more ambivalent stand towards Vasan’s opposition. “As a member of a national party, I would want a standardised design for the card across the country. Personally, I would not want the pictures of any personalities on the cards. We have a party symbol and an election symbol,” said Karti P Chidambaram.
“We are still waiting for a clear picture on what has happened. We will stand by Vasan’s decision to oppose the instruction to remove Kamaraj’s picture, if AICC is allowing other units to carry pictures of their leaders. Kamarajar is a venerable leader. But if there are any ulterior motives to opposing the removal of his picture then we should avoid it,” Karti said.