The former Union Minister, G.K. Vasan, said here on Friday that he had to quit the Congress and revive the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) because the high-command was interested only in saving the UPA government that the party had led at the Centre and never bothered to nurture the State unit.
Explaining the reasons for his decision to re-launch the TMC at a massive rally here, he said he agreed to merge the TMC with the Congress in 2002 as the former was the third largest party in Tamil Nadu with 23 MLAs, besides having scores of representatives in the local bodies.
That decision was shaped by the public interest, and there was not even an iota of selfishness. “We did it to strengthen the Congress and uphold secularism. Yet the high-command neglected us and was only interested in saving the UPA government,” Mr. Vasan, who was a minister in that government, thundered.
Addressing the gathering from a dais dedicated to Kakkan, a member of the Kamaraj Cabinet and considered a symbol of honesty in public life, Mr. Vasan said: “Kamaraj rule would mean honesty and transparency.” The TMC would never be part of any decision that would affect the poor and oppressed sections, he added.
Seeking party members’ full support to help him achieve the goal of bringing back ‘Kamaraj rule,’ he said the large number of people who gathered for the rally was itself a great inspiration for him to carry on with this task.
The former MP, Peter Alphonse, said the political space in Tamil Nadu would no longer accommodate national parties. Only regional parties would fulfil the aspirations of the local people. The State people had lost faith in political leaders, who had organisational strength and money power but no integrity.
The former TNCC president, B.S. Gnanadesikan, said the Congress in Tamil Nadu had witnessed splits on three occasions in the recent past, and each time the developments could be attributed mainly to the indifference of the high-command to the State unit.
