Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Vasan needs time to persuade partymen

By Our Special Correspondent

Ramesh Chennithala, AICC secretary (right), meeting G.K.Vasan, TMC President, at the latter's residence in Chennai on Monday to initiate a discussion on merger of the parties.

CHENNAI April 1. The moves to merge the Tamil Maanila Congress with the parent Congress are finally official now. The TMC president, G.K. Vasan, today held his ``first, official'' talks with the AICC secretary, Ramesh Chennithala, on merger of his party with the Congress.

``I will consult the State and district office-bearers and take a decision in the interest of national unity,'' a beaming Vasan declared, after his one-to-one discussions with Mr. Chennithala for over half-hour at his Alwarpet residence here. However, he refused to give any ``time-frame'' for the party's return to the Congress fold.

``Good things have to happen smoothly,'' he said, indicating that he would require some time to convince a section of functionaries, which is not in favour of a merger.

Interestingly, the formal launch of the merger talks coincided with the founding day of the TMC, launched on April 1, 1996, by the late G.K. Moopanar and his supporters in protest against the Congress high command's ``unilateral decision'' to align with the AIADMK in the Assembly election that year.

Appearing pleased with the outcome of the talks, Mr. Chennithala said he had conveyed to Mr. Vasan the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi's wish that the TMC ``be part of the national mainstream'' to ``strengthen secular forces and benefit the people of Tamil Nadu''.

Mr. Vasan should ``carry on the legacy of Moopanar'' who was ``loyal to the Indira Gandhi family'', Mr.Chennithala said. The TMC leader agreed to consider ``this aspect very seriously''. For his part, the TMC leader said Moopanar had ``never hesitated'' to accept Mrs. Sonia Gandhi's leadership and ``coordinated with the Congress''.

Meanwhile, sources in the TMC and Congress claimed that while Mr. Vasan was ready for a merger, he required time to persuade partymen and pave the way for a ``smooth merger'', leaving little room for an ``exodus''. In any case, the merger would happen, even if not exactly on July 15, Kamaraj birth centenary.

Later, Mr. Vasan held discussions with party seniors including Jayanthi Natarajan and S.R. Balasubramanian, known for their pro-merger line.

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