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“That is the cross we have to bear in the Congress; what is there to say?” asked a senior Congress leader reacting to the resignation of State President EVKS Elangovan.
The Congress high command is not familiar with the ground realities in Tamil Nadu. It criticised the State leadership on the performance in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections last month when it won eight of the 41 seats it contested. The Central leadership was not content with the number of seats it bargained from the DMK-led alliance and unhappy with the results, he said.
Elangovan submitted his resignation in a huff and it was accepted over the weekend.
According to the senior leader, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is expected back on July 3 and a decision on who will succeed Elangovan is likely.
However, a majority of the party cadres are with Elangovan who took over as State president in 2014. They do not agree that the Congress had not done well. It won three seats more in 2016 than in 2011, he said.
As president, Elangovan had rejuvenated the Congress in the State with his continuous interaction with party workers, taking on the AIADMK government on a range of issues including corruption. He has always been a vociferous critic of the ruling AIADMK and its leader J Jayalalithaa.
“He faces nine criminal defamation cases” because of his open criticism of the ruling party, pointed out the party representative.
But his work has not been given adequate recognition. “It has become the norm for the leadership at the Centre to shift State-level head every two to four years,” he said.
The outspoken and acerbic Elangovan faced a tough opposition not just from outside but also from within the Congress. Soon after he took over, the party split with GK Vasan, former union minister, who exited along with other senior leaders to promote the Tamil Maanila Congress. Even within the Congress, Elangovan had to contend with factionalism.
But now it is again up to the Congress’ Central leadership on the direction the party takes in the State, the Congress representative said.
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