I'm only throwing up ideas and fostering a debate: Karti Chidambaram

Interview with Tamil Nadu Congress leader

After the dramatic resignation of Jayanthi Natarajan, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief, E V K S Elangovan, said he welcomed it and added the party would be strengthened if another two people, a senior leader and his heir, meaning ex-finance minister P Chidambaram and son Karti, also went. Karti Chidambaram spoke to Kavita Chowdhury, scotching rumours about quitting the Congress. Edited excerpts:

Among many allegations, Jayanthi Natarajan claimed there was no democracy within the party. Is it similar to some of the concerns you have been raising of late - of a 'high command culture' that shackles the state unit ?

I have no such issues. All I have been saying is that Tamil Nadu needs a distinct agenda. In addition to the secularist plank which the party has nationally, with Dravidian parties in the fray, we need a separate agenda, namely against the dependence of the state on the enormous taxes on alcohol sales. We need an economic blueprint to wean away the state from alcohol revenue. I have been talking to Congress leaders in the state and finding support among Congressmen.

You have been accused of pushing for an agenda that is not the party line in Tamil Nadu and, therefore, paving the path for breaking away.

Absolutely not. I am throwing up ideas and fostering a debate.

But TNCC Chief Elangovan issued you a showcause notice which you very publicly refused to answer, saying that as a primary member of the AICC, you were not answerable to the TNCC.

Yes, I did say that. What I am doing is not anti-party. The Congress allows airing of views. I have been making a case for the Tamil Nadu Congress to have a distinctive agenda. We need a more grassroots-connected movement, a bottom-up approach, and I'm sure New Delhi (high command) will bless and endorse this.

You have been cited as yet another rebel figure from Tamil Nadu. G K Vasan even formed a separate party.

What I have been raising for some time now are operational issues. Just as the way the Kerala unit of the party works in a unique model with booth committees, etc, so should our state unit. Nobody in the party has expressed displeasure with what I have said. As for Vasan, he has never even contested polls, just gone to Parliament through the Rajya Sabha route. He has split for non-ideological reasons and, who knows, might even align with the BJP.

But speculation is rife you will leave the party.

Ideologically, I am a free-market social liberal and most at home with the Congress.

After the high-profile exits from the party over the past few months, you surely will agree the Congress is weakening.

My only concern is Tamil Nadu. For 48 years, the Congress has not been in power in the state and two generations have never seen a Congress at the helm. My concern is that and that's what I am focusing on.