If tension was brewing in the ranks of the Congress’s Tamil Nadu chapter all these days, the announcement of its 27 candidates for the April 23 Assembly elections in the state has simply seen it explode. The situation has turned so sour that the state chief of the Grand Old Party, K Selvaperunthagai, has gone on to announce that he would quit from the post after the election results are announced on May 4.
‘I will resign after election results’
In a strongly worded statement issued late on Friday (April 3), he said, “After the Assembly election results, I will resign from the Tamil Nadu Congress president post. I have already informed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to relieve me from the responsibility.”
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Selvaperunthagai, who is among the 12 sitting MLAs that the Congress has fielded in this election, added that he is getting ready to serve the people of his seat, Sriperumbudur.
“I am ready to work straight for the people of Sriperumbudur constituency. I will work among the people as one of them,” the leader, who recently engaged in an arduous seat-sharing negotiation with its senior ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), asserted.
Selvaperunthagai’s announcement would add to the Congress’s woes since the leader, who assumed the state chief’s post in February 2024, made up his mind amid widespread reports of factional lobbying in the party, bypassing of the state unit, and bargaining over seats in New Delhi.
Party insiders say the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief had pushed hard for several of his supporters in the final list, but the overall process, marked by shortlisting, screening in Delhi, and last-minute changes, left many senior leaders and grassroots workers dismayed.
Senior MP Jothimani blasts selection of candidates
In another turn of events for the worse, senior Congress MP S Jothimani has slammed the candidate’s list and the process to select them.
The parliamentarian from Karur, who has served the party for three decades now, welcomed the decision to renominate many sitting MLAs but expressed dissatisfaction, alleging that the selection process sidelined loyal and long-serving workers to pave the way for newcomers.
Also read: Congress fields 12 sitting MLAs for Tamil Nadu elections; GKM Tamil Kumaran steals focus
“People with proven merit, public influence and winning potential have been denied tickets, while those who joined the party only a few days or a few years ago, lacking any ground experience, have been rewarded,” Jothimani wrote in a detailed post on X, sharing the official list of candidates which was published by the All-India Congress Committee earlier in the day.
Karur MP says key communities overlooked
Her sharpest criticism targeted the alleged neglect meted out to key communities in the state’s Kongu region. She pointed out that the dominant Kongu Vellalar Gounder community and the highly backward Arundhathiyar (a Scheduled Caste sub-group) were ignored. According to her, it is something unprecedented in Tamil Nadu’s electoral history.
“This is against the social justice principles of the Congress and the political stance of our leader, Rahul Gandhi, who fights for the last person in society,” Jothimani said.
She also revealed that she and other leaders of the party had tried internally to avert what she called a “disaster”, but failed. In an emotionally charged note, she said, “I have worked for the Congress for 30 years with emotional attachment through many difficult times… This is the first time I feel so completely alienated.”
Unhappy voices over GKM Tamil Kumaran
One name in the list which has irked many voices in the party is that of GKM Tamil Kumaran, the son of Pattali Makkal Katchi veteran G K Mani aligned with S Ramadoss. He has been given the ticket to contest from Pennagaram, which is currently represented by his father, after he recently joined the Congress.
Tamil Kumaran’s candidature is another reason that has left Jothimani fuming. Even before the list was out, she flagged a “complete lack of transparency” in seat-sharing and candidate finalisation.
The Congress is contesting in 28 seats in this election, as part of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance for the 234-member Assembly. The candidate for the Melur seat in Madurai district was yet to be announced.
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The Selvaperunthagai and Jothimani incidents are not the only ones that have left the Congress camp uncomfortable. Earlier, leaders such as Manickam Tagore, an MP, resigned from key poll oversight roles.
With polling barely three weeks away, the open dissent from a senior MP and the impending exit of the state unit president have handed ammunition to rival parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is a member of the Opposition National Democratic Alliance, has mocked the Congress over “deep internal divisions.”
Can the Congress better its 2021 tally of 18 votes (contested in 25) this time, despite its home being in disarray? May 4 has the answer.
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