At the centre stage is the PCC President K.V. Thangkabalu who has created a major crisis in the state unit by unilaterally expelling 19 members for alleged anti party activities hours after the polling was completed on April 13. Out of these 19, seven are the youth Congress office bearers. Dissident activity against Thangkabalu is on the rise since then with party men burning his effigies or holding other sorts of protests almost every day all over the state.

Thangkabalu’s action has not only instigated dissidence but also united all other groups including those led by G.K. Vasan, Kartik Chidambaram and Elangovan. Their one point programme now appears to be “remove Thangkabalu “campaign. The state Youth Congress president Yuvaraj and former PCC chief EVKS Elangovan have shot off angry letters to the party high command complaining about the high handed behavior of Thangkabalu.

The anger against the PCC chief has been simmering for a while, as there was discontentment about the distribution of tickets before the polls. The Congress got 63 seats but complaints are that they were given to some undeserving candidates. Last month six Congress MPs from the state complained about the ticket selection process and refused to campaign for the candidates unless they were changed. The list had to be changed ultimately to pacify the MPs.

Secondly, the PCC chief managed to get a ticket for his wife Jayanati from the prestigious Mylapore. This provoked the sitting MLA and film actor S.V. Shekhar who had won the seat in 2006 as an AIADMK candidate but moved to Congress. Added to this was Thangkabalu’s decision to become a dummy candidate and when her papers were rejected, Thangkabalu became the Congress candidate through the backdoor.

Naturally the expelled members including R. Thyagarajan, a former Deputy Mayor of Chennai and an aspiring candidate for the Mylapore seat have questioned the arbitrary action of the PCC chief demanding removal of Thangkabalu.

The fight has reached the ears of the party high command in Delhi. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC General Secretary in charge of Youth Congress Rahul Gandhi have already held one round of consultations with the senior Tamil Nadu leaders like G.K. Vasan and Chidambaram and heard their complaints. Chidambaram’s son Kartik is becoming an important player in Tamil Nadu and he had briefed his father about how the state president had no mandate to dismiss members. Chidambaram had also pointed out how Thangkabalu had overstepped his powers by dismissing seven youth Congress members over whom he had no authority.

All these should worry the party high command where the Congress is poised to do well in the Assembly elections. In fact, if the DMK wins, there is a demand for the party to join the government led by the DMK. At this crucial stage, internal squabbles could well be avoided. The Congress insiders feared that even during the campaign, since the Congress and the AIADMK were locked in straight contests in 42 segments, a weak Congress could derail the DMK's plans for retaining office. Thangkabalu himself was on a shaky wicket in Mylapore and the rumor is that he suspected sabotage in his constituency.

Why is the Tamil Nadu Congress dogged in such indiscipline and factionalism? It is because there has been no strong leader of the stature of a Rajaji or Kamaraj and after the party lost the state in 1967 to the DMK, the central leadership had not promoted the state leadership because the Congress was depending on either the DMK or the AIADMK to ride piggyback to win seats. The result is that today there are as many leaders as there are groups and no two leaders see eye to eye on any issue. Since running the party without power itself is a problem, the local leaders are fighting among themselves. Leaders like Chidambaram are more confined to the national level politics than local politics. The fist thing the Congress high command should do is to build up leadership at the state level. And also promote young leadership. There are several aspiring youth Congress leaders who could be given a chance.

Secondly, discipline should be enforced at all levels so that the party is seen united. This lack of discipline hurts the party more than anything else. Thirdly, groupism should be discouraged and the local leaders should be educated to work with each other and tolerate each other. Fourthly, attracting the younger generation is a very important thing for the party to build up its cadre. Instead of concentrating in the state just before elections, the party should keep the machinery well oiled for all times.

The Central leadership is aware of these problems but hesitate to strong action. Even in the case of Thangkabalu, the AICC is waiting for the elections results on May 13. If the party does well, then Thangkabalu may escape but if it does not, he may resign. The high command does not want to precipitate matters until then. Either way the Tamil Nadu Congress needs to be tackled urgently as the Congress remains the balancing factor in the state politics. (IPA Service)