Overseas Congress' Tamil Nadu wing launched

The wing was inaugurated by former union minister S Thirunavukkarasar at a gala function held in the presence of Indian National Congress dignitaries from South India.

Inaugurating the Tamil Nadu wing, the former MP and Union Minister said Indian-Americans who are ambassadors of goodwill should promote business ties between the two nations taking advantage of the pro-liberalisation policies of the UPA government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"Manmohan Singh (Prime Minister) had ushered in a new era in Indian politics since independence in terms of economic development and India is now looked up in awe by most nations and he enhanced the prestige and image of India in the comity of nations," he said.

Party stalwart Kumari Ananthan, former MP and former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President, in his presidential address, said Tamil Nadu was a forerunner in Indian freedom struggle with the formation of Native Association in Triplicane, Chennai in 1852, almost 33 years before the launch of Congress on December 28, 1885 in then Calcutta.