TNCC’s decision to celebrate MGR centenary ruffles feathers

: In a break with tradition, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee will on Tuesday organise a function at its headquarters to commemorate the birth centenary of former chief minister and AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran. The move has not gone down well with a section of party leaders.

“We do not celebrate the birthdays of leaders of the Dravidian movement at the headquarters. It applies to even Periyar, a president of the Madras Presidency Congress Committee,” said a leader, who did not want to be named.

MGR birth centenary celebrations at the TNCC headquarters have reportedly been organised at the insistence of its president Su. Thirunavukkarasar, who had started his political career in the AIADMK.

Mr. Thirunavukkarasar was an AIADMK MLA at 27 and was in and out of the party after MGR’s death. He later floated his own outfit before merging it with the BJP and finally joined the Congress.

However, the TNCC president said that those who have grievances should be willing to air them publicly.

“In the Congress, we honour people who were not even members of the party. MGR was once a Congress member. He had alliances with the Congress and had friends in the party. It was Rajiv Gandhi who said that MGR was a national leader. It is only right we celebrate his centenary,” said Mr. Thirunavukkarasar.

MGR was a member of the Indian National Congress till he joined the DMK in 1953.