Former minister got more from Congress than he gave
Former TNCC president B. S. Gnanadesikan greets E.V.K.S. Elangovan (face hidden), who took charge as new TNCC president, with a hug at Sathyamurthy Bhavan on Sunday. - DC
Chennai: “Vasan is making a big mistake if he decides to quit the Congress. People will not forgive him if he does this after enjoying the fruits of office in the Manmohan government for ten years out of his total tenure of 11 years in the Congress”, said Gopanna, a senior state Congress leader, reacting to reports that former shipping minister G. K. Vasan has decided to leave the Congress party owing to serious differences with Rahul Gandhi that culminated in the replacement of PCC president B. S. Gnanadesikan with EVKS Elangovan.
“There is no justification for Vasan’s anger (against high command). He fully enjoyed the fruits of office as Rajya Sabha member for 12 years and Union minister for 10 years, that too holding important portfolios like shipping. Seniors like Jayanti Natarajan, Anand Sharma and V. Narayanasamy had only got Minister of State status”, Gopanna told Deccan Chronicle in an interview.
He alleged that Vasan had decided to quit the party now “only because he became sure he cannot continue since the relations with Rahul Gandhi soured and also he now believes that the Congress has no future in Tamil Nadu”. In fact, Vasan had planned to leave the Congress months back when he began demanding that Delhi should take back Katchateevu island, said Gopanna, adding, “You cannot talk like a regional politician at the risk of embarrassing your national party”.
Admitting that Vasan’s quitting would hurt the already famished Congress in Tamil Nadu, Gopanna said, “But then, we are a national party that has seen many ups and downs; so we will bounce back surely”.“On the other hand, all those who had left the Congress and launched their own parties were forced to wind up within a couple of years and crawl back to the parent Congress. You saw what happened to Pazha Nedumaran, Kumari Anandan and Sivaji Ganesan. Even Moopanar could not sustain the TMC beyond a couple of years and the same was the case with P. Chidambaram.
And don’t forget, Moopanar was on a strong wicket when he launched the TMC— he had stalwarts with him like Chidambaram, Jayanti Natarajan, S R Balakrishnan, Dhanushkodi Adityan and Arunachalam. Besides, Moopanar had to deal only with Narasimha Rao as the party high command then, but now there’s Sonia and Rahul at the helm”.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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