Chennai: How much excitement could a simple phone call from the party high command bring to a party cadre? If you have not got a clue thus far, strike up a casual conversation with a Congress worker or drop in at Satyamurthy Bhavan, the state party headquarters here.
An otherwise ‘sombre’ Bhavan has only but happy faces, though a few, to show. And closed confidants of factional lords G.K. Vasan and P. Chidambaram, both Union ministers, admit that their bosses have been receiving more than usual number of calls from their foot soldiers.
Not to mention, the second rung leaders, who take a sabbatical during such non-election period, have started making surprise public appearances. Even vendors squatted outside Bhavan are doing busy business selling more khadar caps, a signature mark of Congress cadres. All this excitement was due to a single phone call TNCC chief B.S. Gnanadesikan had received from ‘10 Janpath’ about a week back.
As Gnanadesikan ‘enjoys’ the company of Congress honchos in the national capital, his party men are busy working out calculations that could humble nerdy mathematicians. They are discussing probable names of state office-bearers, a list of which they eagerly expect the high command to announce in a few days.
A senior Congress functionary close to shipping minister G.K. Vasan admitted to AICC inviting Gnanadesikan to discuss organisational rejig and said the list could be out by the weekend.
Interestingly, Vasan loyalists sincerely hope that the list, a draft of which was prepared and sent to AICC by Gnanadesikan in April last, would have around 60 percentile of the nominees from their camp.
However, a skeptical Chidambaram confidant said the AICC would be preoccupied with the four state elections and Tamil Nadu Congress rejig would be last in its itinerary. Will the Congress high command blink or once again play hide and seek in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls is for Rahul Gandhi and company to answer?
