Tamil Nadu Congress could be staring at another exodus if it does not get its act together soon. Though the possible defectors appear not to be as high profile as Khushbu Sundar, at least a couple of district party presidents in the state Congress are understood to have planned to jump ship soon.
Chennai:
If sources in TNCC are to be believed, a prominent functionary who had unsuccessfully contested in the party ticket from Vellore district in 2016 Assembly polls and a former MLA who had joined the party from TMC (Tamil Manila Congress) were learnt to be getting feelers from the rival camps.
Another former district Congress Committee chief from Chennai who is close to former TNCC chief EVKS Elangovan has also expressed his dissatisfaction to his party colleagues recently, a Congress source unwilling to be quoted revealed.
The former TMC man, the source disclosed, has established contact with the state BJP leaders already. The sacked district Congress chief close to Elangovan was learnt to have personally expressed his interest to DMK president MK Stalin during a flight journey.
However, Stalin had put it on hold to avoid offending the ally and advised him to contact one of his district secretaries in the state capital.
Significantly, he was not the only former DCC chief to approach Anna Arivalayam. It has been strongly rumoured that ‘Royapuram’ Mano, who had quit the Congress party some time ago, had also conveyed his interest to the DMK.
Another DCC chief from Ramanathapuram had defected to the rival BJP camp, while a former DCC chief from Tirunelveli had joined the AIADMK recently.
“Some of them might be exploiting the situation for favours or personal benefits. Not all would be willing to leave. Nonetheless, we cannot afford to lose our functionaries to rivals,” the party functionary added.
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