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Written by Manoj C G
| New Delhi |
Updated: January 3, 2021 4:30:46 am
Tamil Nadu Congress chief K S Alagiri With barely four months left for the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, the Congress on Saturday announced a new team of office-bearers for the state unit and key poll-related panels in what seemed to be a massive exercise in accommodation. The Congress’s state unit will now have 32 vice-presidents, 57 general secretaries and 104 secretaries.
The party also announced a 39-member state election committee which will be headed by state Congress chief K S Alagiri. The panel has as members leaders such as P Chidambaram, AICC office-bearers such as Manickam Tagore and A Chella Kumar, and MPs including Karti Chidambaram, K Jayakumar and S Jothimani. A 19-member election coordination committee has also been appointed, headed by former state Congress chief E V K S Elangovan.
Another former TNCC chief and Lok Sabha MP S Thirunavukkarasar will head the 38-member election propaganda/campaign committee. Another former TNCC chief K V Thangkabalu will head a 31-member publicity committee. While former MP Peter Alphonse will head the manifesto committee, CLP leader K R Ramasamy will head an election management team.
But the appointment has triggered a controversy with Sivaganga MP Karti Chidambaram saying such large committees serve no purpose. “These jumbo committees serve no purpose. 32 VP, 57 GS, 104 Secretaries. None will have any authority which means no accountability,” he tweeted, tagging Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary in charge of organisation K C Venugopal, and AICC in charge of the state Dinesh Gundu Rao, among others.
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Another MP, who did not want to be named, said the list of office-bearers is a “joke”. “There should be some criteria for selecting.”
However, Tiruvallur MP and state Congress Working President K Jayakumar praised the appointments. “It is a good committee which will be effective and adequate to face the coming Assembly elections… It is a bit delayed. We should have done it three or four months ago. But even then we have adequate time to prepare.”