The Hindu : Seat allocation adds to woes in faction-ridden Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 06, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Seat allocation adds to woes in faction-ridden Congress

By V. Jayanth

CHENNAI, FEB. 5. The appeal by the Congress general secretary, Kamal Nath, or the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president, G.K. Vasan, to the cadres in the wake of problems in seat-sharing within the Democratic Progressive Alliance is not likely to stamp out dissidence or disaffection among the ranks immediately.

Given the factionalism in the State unit and the inability of the high command to bring about unity or hold organisational elections at some stage, the rival groups are expected to stoke discontent in district units. More so, because in many districts, the Congress has been left without a single seat. Almost in the entire northern belt and in some of its traditional strongholds such as Pondicherry and Nagercoil, the party has been denied a seat. The TNCC is trying to come to grips with the problem, but has to depend on the AICC to quell the disaffection, because of the delicate and fragile fabric of the party here.

The State functionaries hope that the focus will shift to New Delhi and selection of candidates. But they are also conscious of the fact that the announcement of the list of nominees can trigger a fresh bout of dissidence. After nominating G.K. Vasan as the State chief, the AICC has done precious little to strengthen his hands or give him a cohesive team to work with. There are no office-bearers and the district units are still headed by those appointed by the previous presidents. Party sources say some of the district presidents have not even met Mr. Vasan out of courtesy.

The problem seems to be ``complete centralisation'' of powers with the AICC and lack of transparency in the decision-making process. Though the TNCC had its own negotiating committee to hold seat-sharing talks with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, most of the decisions were taken by the AICC. The problems arising out of the allocation of the Pondicherry seat to the Pattali Makkal Katchi have still not been completely settled, party sources insist. Similarly, the negotiating committee is trying to refuse the Periakulam seat, which was ``thrust'' on the Congress. As time was running out, the deal was clinched and the party saddled with a few ``unwinnable seats.''

What is likely to complicate issues further, the sources say, is that many of the negotiating committee members themselves are in the running for the ``winnable seats'' and this could deny many of the ``new faces'' a chance to enter the race. It is still not known whether the Congress Jananayaka Peravai leader and former Union Minister, P. Chidambaram, will be accommodated in the Congress list. The TNCC president has, however, tried to reassure the aspirants that new faces will also get a chance to contest this election.

Another problem the State unit is facing is its inability to take ``real-time decisions.'' Any issue has to be presented to the AICC for a decision and sensitive questions have to be referred to the president, Sonia Gandhi. While the regional allies take spot decisions, or at least overnight decisions, it takes a couple of days for the Congress to go through the motions of briefing, consultation and decision-making. Given the factionalism here, the State leader will be running a serious risk if he takes a decision on his own. One wrong step could lead to another campaign to oust him.

As for the AICC, Tamil Nadu may not figure in the list of immediate priorities and may come up for discussions at a ``convenient time,'' without adequate consultation with the State unit or without going into the possible consequences of any decision. ``Unfortunately, the situation has not changed in decades and that is why we have not been able to build up the party here,'' regrets a former TNCC president.

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