Vasan quits Congress after 14 years to form own party

Former Union minister accuses Congress of not giving a free hand to state leaders

In a big blow to the Congress in Tamil Nadu, senior party leader and former Union minister G K Vasan broke away from the party on Monday to form a new party in the state. It may be noted that Vasan’s father, late G K Moopanar, had also formed his own party — Tamil Maanila Congress — in a similar fashion in 1996, but it eventually merged with the Congress in 2002.

Hours after Vasan’s announcement that he would start a new party, the Congress announced it had expelled him. Congress spokesman Ajoy Kumar said Vasan was expelled for “making inappropriate comments against the party”.

“We want an alternative for the Tamil Nadu people and want to fulfil the vision of Kamaraj (late K Kamaraj, a popular Congress chief minister in the 1950s). We can fulfil what the Congress wanted to achieve in its own way,” said Vasan, adding the Congress should have had a different approach towards the state. “We were not satisfied. Now, we want to strengthen the regional party,” said the 49-year-old politician.

Vasan said he was the only leader in the Congress to campaign in all the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu, by travelling as much as 6,120 km for the last elections.

Vasan, however, refused to comment on Rahul Gandhi or other central leaders, saying,  “Now, I am out of the party and so I don’t want to comment. The Congress is an old story now; we are starting a new one.”

The new president of the state Congress, E V K S Elangovan, requested Vasan to reconsider his decision. Elangovan was appointed after Vasan’s supporter B S Gnanadesikan quit as state Congress president on October 30.

To a question on whether the Tamil Maanila Congress would be revived, Vasan said, “We will start the process; it is up to the Election Commission. Will announce the name and flag at a public function in Tiruchirappalli soon.” The new party will work towards “Valamana Tamilagam, Valimayana Bharatham” (prosperous Tamil Nadu, vibrant India) — a slogan coined by his father Moopanar.

Notably, when Moopanar formed the Tamil Maanila Congress to protest against the Congress’ decision to ally with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), nearly 90 per cent of the Congress leaders — including P Chidambaram and Jayanthi Natarajan — joined him.

“In Tamil Nadu, the movement (Congress) can be strengthened only by invoking the legacy of Kamaraj and Moopanar,” said Vasan, referring to the tussle with the Congress central leadership over the issue of carrying the pictures of Kamaraj and Moopanar on party membership cards. Vasan and Gnanadesikan have accused the Congress of not allowing them to use the pictures on membership cards, a charge the Congress has denied.

Gnanadesikan also alleged that former Union finance minister and Congress leader Chidambaram had not been turning up at the party office for the past three months.

“Since the Lok Sabha election debacle, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has been ignoring the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, and as a result the party apparatus is in a lull,” said Vasan. “When Gnanadesikan wanted to speed up the membership drive, the AICC diktat to postpone it had an ulterior motive,” he added.

When asked whether he was being forced to leave the party, Vasan said he was not happy to leave the national party, but he was forced to do so. He noted this is also what the cadres wanted, claiming that a large section of the party is with him.

He alleged there is “no proper yardstick in the Congress to measure leaders”.

He said considering the fact that the Congress was not in the power for the past 48 years in Tamil Nadu, the party should have given a free hand to regional leaders to revive the party. He blamed the “system failure” in the party for the poor performance of the Congress in the state.

Elangovan told reporters the party would not be affected by Vasan's exit.