Congress pacifies its dissident MLA John Kumar

The ruling Congress seems to have pacified its dissident MLA A John Kumar who threatened to move over to BJP for 2021 Assembly polls.

The MLA accompanied Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and Lok Sabha member V Vaithilingam to inspect the rain-affected areas in Kamaraj Nagar constituency, from where he was elected to the Legislative Assembly. Areas like Krishna Nagar, Rainbow Nagar, Venkatanagar have been seeing flooding due to rains for years together. With elections coming up, the government is looking at remedial measures within the provisions of the limited budget to ensure the victory of their candidate. John Kumar participated in discussions along with the Chief Minister, Lok Sabha members and officials to work out a solution.

The change in the attitude of John Kumar was visible when he came to the venue of the Congress fast in support of farmers on Friday and also joined the Chief Minister and Vaithilingam while garlanding the statue of former Chief minister Venkatasubba Reddiar on the occasion of his birth anniversary. Later John Kumar also participated in the fast too.

PWD Minister A Namassivayam who reportedly has differences with the Chief Minister, also participated in the fast, giving the impression that the issues had been resolved. The “ Samadhan scheme” of Congress is working well in settling differences and keeping the fold together, said a senior party functionary.

However, PCC President A V Subramanian says that John Kumar has realized the advantages of remaining in Congress for a person from the minority and his poll prospects by going to BJP and returned back to the fold.