Supporters of the former Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, on Friday trained their guns on TNCC spokesperson A. Gopanna for making disparaging remarks about their leader in a television debate.
Mr. Gopanna, a senior Congressman, is considered a confidant of TNCC president E.V.K.S. Elangovan.
A statement signed by several former MPs and MLAs said Mr. Gopanna’s statements were highly condemnable. It was the same leader who in 2013 praised Mr. Chidambaram’s Budget presentations in his journal Desiya Murasu .
The statement said Mr. Gopanna had made it a habit to change loyalty depending on who was in power. He should stop being a loose cannon, the leaders advised.
When contacted, Mr. Gopanna said his remarks were a reply to Mr. Chidambaram’s statement that he was aware even three years earlier that the Congress would lose the 2014 elections. “I only asked in the debate why as a Union Finance Minister he did not remedy the problems if he knew it would cost us the elections. He even said the Congress will lose the coming Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. I defended the party in that debate,” he said.
Mr. Gopanna pointed out that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had trusted people like Mr. Chidambaram totally. “He has not been able to strengthen the party in his own constituency. After over 35 years in Parliament, he wriggled out of contesting the Lok Sabha elections fearing defeat,” he charged.