New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) Amid demands by a section of Tamil Nadu Congress leaders for a power-sharing understanding with the DMK ahead of the state polls, the party on Saturday said its leadership has noted all concerns and will take a decision in due course.
The Congress also cautioned state leaders to maintain discipline and refrain from making statements, including on social media, on matters related to election strategy.
This came after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge chaired a meeting at the party’s Indira Bhawan headquarters here that was attended by former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal, AICC in-charge of Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar, state Congress chief K Selvaperunthagai, MPs P Chidambaram, Manickam Tagore, Karti Chidambaram, Jyothimani, V Vasanth, and Professionals’ Congress chief Praveen Chakravarty, among others.
In a post on X, Kharge said, “We held a key meeting with our leaders from Tamil Nadu. We are confident that the people of Tamil Nadu would choose equality, social justice, empowerment and good governance over bigotry, sectarianism, anti-federal and discriminatory politics of the RSS-BJP.” The Congress is determined to play an important role in fulfilling the aspirations of the people of the state, he said.
The party’s top brass held a collective meeting with Tamil Nadu leaders as well as on a one-on-one basis, Venugopal told reporters after the meeting.
Congress president Kharge and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had a very detailed and fruitful discussion with senior party leaders from Tamil Nadu, he said.
“The leadership patiently listened to all leaders. The leaders were given full opportunity to freely express their views. The discussions were constructive and focused on strengthening the party and its future strategy in Tamil Nadu,” Venugopal said.
The meeting has unanimously authorised Kharge and Gandhi to take decisions, Venugopal said.
“With regard to the election strategy matters, the party high command will take an appropriate decision in due course, keeping in mind the larger interest of the party ideology and the people of Tamil Nadu,” he said, reading out a statement.
The high command has issued a clear directive to all leaders to maintain discipline and refrain from making statements, including on social media, on these matters, he added.
Venugopal further said leaders have been advised to avoid speculation and speak in one voice in line with party decisions.
Asked about state leaders demanding a power-sharing understanding with the DMK before polls, Venugopal said the leadership heard the concerns of the leaders and a decision will be taken keeping everything in mind.
The party’s top brass also met Congress leaders from Puducherry, including former chief minister V Narayanasami and Puducherry Congress chief V Vaithilingam.
“Puducherry leaders stated that a big padyatra will be undertaken by the party from January 21 onwards and the leadership is going to participate in that,” Venugopal said.
The meeting comes amid calls from the party’s Tamil Nadu unit for a share in power if the DMK-led alliance wins the assembly election due by March-April this year.
Congress MP Manickam Tagore recently said it was time to debate “share in power”.
CLP leader and Killiyoor (Kanyakumari district) legislator S Rajeshkumar had also batted for a coalition government.
Congress party in-charge for Tamil Nadu, Girish Chodankar, had said if any political party “will say that they don’t want power; then we should name ourselves as NGO”.
However, ruling out the scope for a coalition government, senior DMK leader and Tamil Nadu minister I Periyasamy asserted this week that Chief Minister M K Stalin is firm on the stand against sharing power with allies.
The Congress’ meeting comes amid speculation that the party could also consider an alliance with actor-turned-politician Vijay’s newly formed TVK, but state unit leaders have denied such a possibility.
Since 1967, both the DMK and the AIADMK have formed their own governments despite fighting polls in alliance with other parties.
After independence, when the first general election was held in the then composite Madras state in 1952, the Congress failed to secure an absolute majority. It was the only time during the First Assembly’s term (1952-57) that non-Congress leaders, including Manickavelu Naicker of the Commonweal Party, were accommodated in the Congress-led state Cabinet.
In 2006, though the DMK did not have an absolute majority, it ran the government for a full five years (2006-11) with support from allies, including the Congress and without sharing power with allies. Without any success, the state Congress leaders had made the same “share power with us” demand during the DMK’s 2006-11 term too.
Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday defended the party’s demand for a share in power in Tamil Nadu, saying every political party aspires to have a role in governance. PTI ASK DIV DIV
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