The Hindu : Cong. plans panel to streamline T.N. unit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 21, 2003

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National

Cong. plans panel to streamline T.N. unit

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI MAY 20. The Congress leadership is giving the final touches to its plans to streamline the functioning of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee by setting up a steering committee.

The new committee will be a compact body comprising more than 10 members. Among those likely to figure on the committee are the TNCC president, the working president, and Mani Shankar Aiyer and G.K. Vasan, the two CWC members from the State. The committee will also include the former TNCC chiefs and the former Union Ministers from the State.

Party sources said the super body was being created to facilitate a quick decision-making and to streamline the party's functioning. The party prefers a small body to the unwieldy State executive. The inclusion of both the president and the working president suggests that the two will continue in their positions for the time being.

Tamil Nadu has come to occupy a central position in the thinking of Congress strategists here. Along with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal, Tamil Nadu has become the soft underbelly of the party. The leadership realises that its performance in these States will have an important bearing on its chances of forming the Government at the Centre.

Kamal Nath is the new AICC general secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu and he has made it clear that high on his list of priorities is cutting through the factionalism in the State. "I do not recognise groups or factions and will not deal with anybody on that basis,'' he has said.

The momentum generated by the merger of the Tamil Maanila Congress appears to be dissipating and the new set-up is keen on setting its house in order, so that the party can get its act together. AICC sources say that ground reports from the State suggest that the people are looking for an alternative to the two Dravidian parties.

The State unit is wracked by factionalism, with the senior leaders working at cross-purposes. The new AICC team in charge of the State is aware of the challenge ahead. "We know there are problems, but the challenge is to get it all sorted out and get moving,'' says a senior AICC functionary.

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