The Hindu : Front Page : Vasan to continue as TNCC chief

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Friday, Aug 05, 2005

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Vasan to continue as TNCC chief

K.V. Prasad and S.Vydhianathan

High command plays it safe, decides against a change in leadership

NEW DELHI/CHENNAI: The Congress high command on Thursday decided to re-appoint G.K. Vasan as president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee even as it cleared P. Shanmugam to head the Pondicherry party unit.

Mr. Vasan is understood to have been keen on moving to the Centre and was anticipating a change in the TNCC leadership. But the Congress leadership decided against bringing in a new person. Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry will go to the polls next year.

``The Congress president has reposed faith in me and I will carry on doing my duty in the interest of the party and to the expectations of the AICC'', Mr. Vasan told The Hindu on phone. He was touring Thanjavur district and is likely to return to Chennai during the weekend.

By retaining Mr. Vasan, the Congress high command has signalled that it does not want to risk a revamp of the organisation when the Assembly election is less than a year away. Moreover, the party has a good rapport with other constituents of the Democratic Progressive Alliance, especially the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam . And Mr. Vasan enjoys a good equation with top DPA leaders.

The high command may have feared that any change in leadership will send a wrong signal to its DPA partners. So it played it safe by allowing Mr.Vasan to continue.

A campaign demanding change in the State Congress leadership has been going on for quite some time. It gained momentum when there was a rumour that Mr.Vasan would soon become a Union Minister. Though dissident leaders sought Mr.Vasan's removal, they could not arrive at a consensus on an alternative leader.

The rival group made a last ditch attempt when party MLA, S.G.Vinayagamurthi, once a Vasan loyalist, was attacked inside the Congress headquarters here. But the high command negated the attempt by issuing a show-cause notice to Mr. Vinayagamurthi. Congress president Sonia Gandhi reprimanded those who tried to take up Mr.Vinayagamurthi's cause.

Partymen are hoping that the high command would, at least now, direct the dissident leaders to cooperate with Mr.Vasan in strengthening the party at the grassroots level.

Meanwhile, supporters of Mr.Vasan celebrated his retention by distributing sweets and bursting crackers at Satyamurthi Bhavan.

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