Issues within Congress in TN continue

Posters supporting P Chidambaram and criticising Elangovan pasted in various parts of the State

The issues within the Congress party in Tamil Nadu persist, with posters supporting former Union Minister P Chidambaram and questioning Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president E V K S Elangovan surfacing in some parts of the State.

Neither of the leaders has taken potshots at the other after the party High Command intervened, following Elangovan's remarks in the backdrop of Jayanthi Natarajan's resignation. The TNCC president had said that the party in the State would attain salvation if another Congress leader and his heir quit the party, in an alleged reference to P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram.

Posters questioning Elangovan's authority to criticise Chidambaram and Karti were pasted in some parts of the State. The posters, with the picture of the former Union Minister and his son on the one side and the images of late Congress leader Kamaraj, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi on the other side, call Elangovan a political joker.

Elangovan, who is in Delhi, was said to have beeb reprimanded by the high command for his comments. However, he maintained that he was called for election related work.

Elangovan is said to have mantained that he had not criticised anybody by their name.

While the current controversy came to the fore with Elangovan's comment that followed Natarajan's quitting the Congress party, there have been other issues brewing in the party's State Committee for some time now, according to sources.

Last month, Elangovan had issued a show-cause notice to Karti Chidambaram, who allegedly criticised the party's policies in an informal meeting. However, Karti refused to answer the notice and informed Elangovan that he (Karti) is a member of All India Congress Committee (AICC) and only the Congress Disciplinary Committee has the power to issue notice to him.