Rivals in own camp spoil TNCC chief’s revamp plan

Thirunavukkarsar’s attempts to revamp the district units of the party was understood to have been stonewalled by AICC (All India Congress Committee), courtesy former union minister P Chidambaram and EVKS Elangovan, who had persuaded the high command to veto the TNCC chief’s request to go for a mas-sive organisational shake up. 

Senior functionary in the TNCC, who are in the know of things, told DTNext that Thirunavukkarasar, who had visited the national capital a few days ahead of Leader of Opposition MK Stalin’s rendezvous with the Gandhis had tabled a dossier for the organisational revamp. If the numbers suggested by TNCC sources were something to go by, Thirunavukkarasar might have proposed creation of a few dozen new districts. 

As on date, TNCC has 61 party districts, like its ally DMK, which has 65 party districts, and a secretary each to head them. Thirunavukkarasar was also understood to have taken a wish list of former TNCC chief KV Thangkabalu and another senior leader along with his proposal to get the nod of AICC. 

A party senior in the know of things also revealed that Thirunavukkarasar had asked Chidambaram to support his dossier over phone, only to be humbly declined by the former. Worse, Chidambaram and Elangovan had individually persuaded the high command to shoot down the TNCC chief’s proposal, which, the AICC ultimately did by asking Thirunavukkarasar to go slow on the organi-sational rejig. 

A source close to the TNCC chief put the number of party districts proposed by his boss at 70 and said the high command was pre-occupied with UP Assembly polls and Thirunavukkarasar would travel to the national capital again in a week to get the stamp of approval for the state party unit’s reorganisation. 

Notably, AICC had also asked the TNCC chief to go easy on DMK in whose company they are most likely to face the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in view of the cur-rent political circumstance in the state. The AICC briefing, sources say, may have happened after complaints poured in at AICC over the unusual bonhomie between the TNCC chief and the Sasikala faction of AIADMK.