After maintaining distance from the Congress ever since he was removed from the Chief Minster's post in 2008, N. Rangasamy on Thursday tendered his resignation from the primary membership of the party and as Member of the Legislative Assembly.
Government whip in the Legislative Assembly P. Angalane also submitted his resignation from the party and as MLA in support of Mr. Rangasamy.
Even as senior Congress leaders were trying to persuade him to stay on in the party, Mr. Rangasamy with his supporters, including Chairman of the Oulgaret Municipality N. S. J Jayabal, came to the Assembly at around 11. 30 a.m and submitted the resignation to Legislative Assembly Secretary M. Sivaprakasam.
Later, former AICC member V. Balan handed over a copy of the resignation letter, which Mr. Rangasamy and Mr. Angalane had sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to Chief of Pradesh Congress Committee A. V Subramanian at the party office. Mr Balan too tendered his resignation from the primary membership of the party.
Mr. Sivaprakasam told The Hindu that he had forwarded the resignation letters to Speaker R. Radhakrishnan. Officials in the Speaker's office said the Speaker was yet to go through the letters.
Talking to reporters after tendering the resignation, Mr. Rangasamy said he will reveal his plans at an appropriate time. When asked about the reason for his resignation, he said: “I was not happy with the way the government treated my constituency.”
