Expressing dismay over the summary removal of 19 Congress functionaries, Cuddalore MP K.S. Alagiri has appealed to Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.V. Thangkabalu to immediately revoke their expulsion.
In a statement issued here Mr. Alagiri stated that it was but natural for those who aspired to contest the Assembly elections but were not given the party tickets to get upset. It might have prompted some of them to express views or act in such a manner construed to be trampling over the party discipline.
Mr. Alagiri was of the opinion that in such circumstances the right course open to the TNCC leadership was to reprimand them and not to punish them. If punishment was considered to be the only means to discipline the party functionaries and to make them fall in line there would be no end to it.
At the same time, Mr. Alagiri underscored the point, that it was not a justifiable act to allot party tickets for those functionaries residing in Chennai to contest the elections at Krishnagiri or Kanyakumari.
This could have been the reason for many functionaries to start cringing and getting angry.
Mr. Alagiri pointed out that there were senior leaders, former TNCC presidents and above all there was the five-member committee appointed by All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi.
“Party image suffers”
Before taking such an action Mr. Thangkabalu could have consulted them and conducted an inquiry with those functionaries who were said to have ignored the party discipline. Had it been done so, the image of the party would not have suffered a set back but would have gone up.
Mr. Alagiri noted that he did not want to go into the merits of the debate as to whether Mr. Thangkabalu was vested with powers to remove the functionaries from the party or whether he had got the sanction of the AICC in this regard.
But one thing was sure, and irrefutable too, that all those functionaries had been with the party for several years, totally identified themselves with the party and had sacrificed a lot for the sake of the party.
Therefore, it would be only appropriate for the TNCC leadership to revoke their expulsion without delay. Since it had gone to the notice of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and other senior leaders, Mr. Thangkabalu, with broadmindedness, should take their counsel on board to find an amicable solution to the issue, Mr. Alagiri added.
