Faction-ridden TN Cong unit finds new chief in MGR protege

CHENNAI: Ending months of uncertainty , Congress finally named MGR protégé, AICC secretary in-charge of Telangana, six time MLA and former Union minister

S Thirunnavukkarasar

as the new TNCC chief.

The announcement made by AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi in Delhi is significant as Thirunnavukkarasar has been a neutral force in the faction-ridden state unit. The high command thinks that his organizational abilities will help to revive the party's fortunes ahead of the local body polls in October,

Lok Sabha

elections in 2019 and assembly elections in 2021.

He succeeds senior leader E V K S Elangovan who resigned owning moral responsibility for the party's poor performance in the assembly poll.

Thirunnavukkarasar, a leader of the thevar community, has overcome stiff opposition from Congress loyalists who had petitioned the party high command not to appoint him as he had committed the “sin“ of joining the BJP during the Vajpayee regime in the late 1990s. Flanked by TNCC general secretaries D Selvam and K Chiranjeevi at his Anna Nagar residence, Thirunnavukkarasar told reporters he would go to Delhi on Thursday to call on Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. The date of his taking charge would be fixed then.

P Chidambaram loyalist `Karate' R Thiagarajan said, “We welcome the decision. We will cooperate and assist him.“

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