The party appreciated the contributions of Selvaperunthagai though many in the party saw him as one favourably inclined towards the DMK, unlike Tagore: General Secretary K C Venugopal
CHENNAI: Congress MP from Virudhunagar, B Manickam Tagore, was appointed as the president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) in the place of K Selvaperunthagai, who has been holding the post since February, 2024, thus paving the way for the national party to have a much closer association with the ruling TVK.
Announcing the appointment by the Congress President on Saturday, General Secretary K C Venugopal said the party appreciated the contributions of Selvaperunthagai though many in the party saw him as one favourably inclined towards the DMK, unlike Tagore.
Tagore, who had been opposing the DMK openly even before the Congress snapped ties with it after the Assembly elections, had always been demanding a share in power in the State, along with Praveen Chakravarty, who became a Rajya Sabha MP with the TVK support recently. Tagore had also been advocating an alliance with the newly formed TVK before the elections.
The Congress that contested the elections as an ally of the DMK in 27 seats and won just five constituencies switched over to the TVK side after the debacle of the DMK alliance in the polls and managed to wrest two Ministerial berths.
Congratulating Tagore ‘on being entrusted with the monumental responsibility of reviving and rebuilding a strong Congress in Tamil Nadu,’ Chakravarty said: ‘Under his leadership, I firmly believe that we will create a new Congress that listens to the voice of the workers and boldly positions itself as the representative of the people of Tamil Nadu.’
Earlier Tagore was AICC-in-charge of Andhra Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar, besides serving as a Congress whip in the Lok Sabha. He is now serving his third term the Lok Sabha.
