‘Time for Congress to fight with fire’

KARAIKUDI

Expressing concern over the poor turnout and ‘nonchalant’ attitude of the functionaries at the booth committee meetings, senior leader P. Chidambaram said that the need of the hour for the Congress was to fight with a fire, which alone would help bring back the sheen of the party.

The Congress leader, who has been extensively presiding over party workers' meetings in the district over the last fortnight ahead of the general election to the Legislative Assembly, said that it would be important for the Congress to stand on its own, when a seat was allotted to the party by the ally (DMK).

"I am here to fight valiantly against the BJP. The party should not win even one seat. For this to be achieved, the party has to work hard and fight against corruption and malpractice of the opponents," he said.

When many of the political parties had started campaigning, the functionaries of the Congress party had not even showed up for booth-level meetings. Time was running out. The campaign had to start any time now.

"We have to meet the people. We have to tell them about the need for voting for us. We have to expose the BJP," he said.

To achieve this, Mr Chidambaram said that the support of the cadres and the functionaries at district level was very important. The high command cannot be blamed. Having got 25 seats from the DMK, the Congress had to get into action and work hard. Our immediate goal should be to win all the 25 Assembly Constituencies.

There was no point in fighting against the allies for more seats or to allot tickets for constituencies not given to the Congress, he said.

With the party having got Karaikudi Assembly Constituency, the former Union Minister was shocked over the absence of the designated functionaries, who had not turned up for the booth committee meeting. Though some of them turned up after his arrival, when he inquired about the other names, the functionaries said that they were away at a temple festival.

Winding up his address, when he left the meeting, functionaries from different groups in Devakottai lined up before Mr Chidambaram's car seeking tickets and submitted petitions.

Only a few days ago, Mr Chidambaram had said that the number of seats allotted to the Congress had been steadily falling election after election. He had underlined the need to arrest the trend and improve the number of victories in a phenomenal manner.