The jumbo committees formed in the Congress’ Tamil Nadu unit ahead of the assembly polls are not going to adversely impact the party as the move brings various factions together, senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Thursday and predicted a “strong walkover” for the DMK-Congress alliance over the AIADMK in the upcoming elections.
The comments by Aiyar, who has been named in several key poll-related panels of the Congress’ Tamil Nadu unit, come days after Congress MP Karti Chidambaram raised questions over the state unit rejig, saying such “jumbo committees” serve no purpose as no one will have any authority which would mean “no accountability”.
In an interview with PTI, Aiyar said that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-Congress alliance was facing a “very divided” All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) between Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and O Panneerselvam (OPS).
Aiyar also said that if either of the “factions” in the AIADMK or the party as a whole joins hands with the BJP then that will be to its further disadvantage “because in Tamil Nadu there has never been and there is not now any kind of Hindu-Muslim divide”.
“The Congress will not be fighting in Tamil Nadu on its own, it is going to be part of the alliance being put together by the DMK. Now we are faced with a very divided AIADMK between EPS and OPS, where there has been no reconciliation of hearts,” he said.
“Although they (AIADMK) have succeeded against many people’s expectations, including mine, in being able to run a coalition government. I call it a coalition government because EPS and OPS are really running irreconcilable factions and these factional rivalries are bound to affect the ground prospects of the AIADMK,” the former Union minister and an ex-MP from Tamil Nadu said.
Asked about Karti Chidambaram’s “jumbo committee” remarks and his own take on the Congress appointing 32 vice presidents, 57 general secretaries and 104 secretaries in its state unit last week, Aiyar said that this is the “jumbo way” of running the Pradesh Congress.
(Source: PTI)