Winding up the six-year-old Tamil Maanila Congress, its general council today "unanimously" decided to reunite with the parent Congress to pave the way for "restoring Kamaraj rule" in the State.
"We will make a new beginning to complete the task (of bringing back Kamaraj rule)," the TMC president, G.K.Vasan, told the media, after moving the "historic" resolution on merger with the Congress on August 14 in Madurai.
The resolution was adopted amid applause and with no murmur at the last general council meeting held at Kamaraj Arangam here, but at least half-a-dozen MLAs particularly the rebels, D. Kumaradas and M.A. Hakeem, and the former Pondicherry Minister, Theni Jayakumar, kept away.
In a bid to counter the rebel game plan of keeping the party afloat, the general council resolved that no member of the TMC use its "cycle" symbol or its tricolour after the merger. No member, MLA or functionary could claim to belong to the TMC after August 14, the resolution moved by the legislature group leader, S.R. Balasubramaniam, insisted.
The TMC would ask the Election Commission not to allow any association or group to register its party as the "Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) and allot the cycle symbol to any political party or to individuals as a free symbol in TamilNadu and Pondicherry.
In another resolution, the party urged the Centre to declare July 15-; Kamaraj birthday-;students' day. 'Absence for personal reasons.' Talking to the media after the meeting, Mr.Vasan sought to downplay the absence of a few MLAs, saying, "Mani Nadar, R. Easwaran, Hakeem and Theni Jayakumar could not make it for personal reasons. They have informed me". As for Dr. Kumaradas, Mr.Vasan said, "we want him to come back to the mainstream. I hope he will". Pressed further, he shot back: "The party is united".
Asked whether he would don the TNCC mantle, Mr. Vasan said the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, would decide on the issue. On whether the party functionaries would be suitably accommodated in the united Congress, he said the Congress high command was well aware of the importance of the TMC as the third largest political force in Tamil Nadu. "However, our goal is bringing back Kamaraj rule and we will work towards the goal".
'Due respect in united party'
Earlier, addressing the general council, Mr. Vasan sent out a reassuring message, saying the partymen would be given "due respect and honour in the united Congress".
Ms. Gandhi and the AICC Secretary, Ramesh Chennithala, had given an assurance that the TMC men would be "treated well", Mr.Vasan said.
Justifying the merger decision, Mr.Vasan said that though late G.K. Moopanar broke away from the Congress to launch the TMC on April 1,1996, he had no disagreement with its basic principles and continued to coordinate with his parent party.
"The real tribute to Moopanar is to defeat the fascist forces and instal a Sonia Gandhi-led Congress Government at the Centre and restore Kamaraj rule in Tamil Nadu," Mr.Vasan exhorted the TMC functionaries.
