The Hindu : Protests delay release of Congress list

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 24, 2004

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Protests delay release of Congress list

By K.V. Prasad

NEW DELHI, MARCH 23. Protests by a section of Congress members from Tamil Nadu today delayed the release of the list of candidates for eight Lok Sabha seats from the State, amid reports that the State party chief, G. K. Vasan, objected to the manner in which the selection was gone through.

For nearly two hours, a number of members, including former MPs and MLAs, staged a noisy protest outside the AICC headquarters here and burnt paper effigies of senior leaders.

Raising slogans against leaders including the All-India Congress Committee general secretary, Kamal Nath, in-charge of the party affairs in Tamil Nadu, and Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress president, the State leaders were critical of the reported choice of candidates.

Among the protesters was a group of women leaders including the former MP, K. Soundaram, which was upset on hearing reports that the list finalised by the central election committee (CEC) did not contain any woman.

``Only yesterday, while releasing the manifesto, did the party commit itself to providing one-third reservation to women in Parliament and legislatures and today there is not a single woman from Tamil Nadu. Is it fair when some of us were on the panel which was presented to the CEC for final clearance,'' asked Ms. Soundram.

Mr. Vasan told the The Hindu that he had attended a meeting in the AICC office, where he conveyed the feelings of the party members from the State. He said that as president of the State Congress, he was duty-bound to give the real picture to the central leaders.

At one stage, it appeared that the situation was threatening to get out of hand. The AICC treasurer, Moti Lal Vora, and the senior leader, P.M. Sayeed, heard the grievances of the protesters.

Radha Venkatesan reports from Chennai

The protests in Delhi had an immediate echo in Chennai. At the entrance to the Sathyamurthy Bhavan, State Congress headquarters in Chennai, a group of Vasan loyalists burnt an effigy of Mr. Kamal Nath and raised slogans against him. ``Down, Down Kamal Nath, who has let down the Congress,'' they chorused.

The former Union Minister, P. Chidambaram, who is yet to join the Congress, but has apparently been given the Sivaganga seat, was also a target of their anger.

Punctuating their sloganeering with praises for Mr.Vasan, his supporters said: ``Vasan is Congress and Congress is Vasan.''

After over half-hour of slogan shouting, the crowd dispersed after the senior leaders, who were present at the Sathyamurthy Bhavan, appealed for calm.

Barring the former MP, N.S.V.Chithan, who is said to have been accommodated in Dindigul, none of Vasan nominees figured in the proposed list.

Mr.Vasan merged the Tamil Maanila Congress with the parent party Congress, in August 2002. Though Mr.Vasan was made AICC secretary on the day of the merger, his supporters felt that they were not given due positions in the united Congress in Tamil Nadu.

The candidates in the draft list were the former TNCC president, E.V.K.S.Elangovan- Gobichettipalayam; the former Union Minister, K.V.Thangkabalu - Salem; the Namakkal MLA, K.Jayakumar - Rasipuram; H.Vasanthakumar - Tirunelveli; R.Gandhi - Palani; J.M.Haroon - Periyakulam; N.S.V.Chithan-Dindigul, and P.Chidambaram - Sivaganga.

The Congress, which was allotted 10 seats in Tamil Nadu by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, had already announced the candidates for two seats: the sitting MP, Mani Shankar Aiyar for Mayiladuturai and the former Union Minister, R.Prabhu for Nilgiris.

Our Erode Staff Reporter reports:

The police ``secured'' 32 Congress members tonight for burning effigies of Mr. Kamal Nath at Dharapuram and Gobichettipalayam . Opposing the allocation of ticket to Mr. Elangovan and Mr. Gandhi, the members (former TMC group) burnt the effigy of Kamal Nath at Dharapuram.

The police secured 17 members. At Gobichettipalayam the police secured 15 persons.

At Erode, about 25 former TMC members held a demonstration in front of the former TMC district committee office.

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