No parallel rally to counter G K Vasan: TNCC chief E V K S Elangovan

CHENNAI: Congress in Tamil Nadu today rejected reports that it was planning a parallel rally to counter the launch of a new outfit by senior leader G K Vasan, who broke away from the party.

"We never said that (of holding a parallel rally). I even doubt if that Tiruchirapplli meeting (of Vasan) will happen," Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) President E V K S Elangovan told reporters here.

He was responding to reports in a section of media that the TNCC, in the wake of Vasan's exit, was planning to conduct a rally in Tiruchirappalli or Tanjavur with all its leaders participating in it.

Elangovan expressed doubts if the former party colleague could even manage the Tiruchirappalli meeting, where he is scheduled to announce his new venture, apparently hinting that his flock was in order.

If at all the state Congress conducted such a meeting, and if party President Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi attended that, Vasan's event would be a damp squib, he said.

On the milk price hike effected by AIADMK Government, he flayed his predecessor B S Gnanadesikan, a Vasan loyalist, for not holding a protest even as all other parties had held demos against the revision.

TNCC will not confine itself to mere statements in future and would "proactively" take up people's cause, he added.

On his meeting with DMK chief M Karunanidhi yesterday, he said no political strings were attached to it, and that he had called on the veteran leader since he was senior to him.

He said he was prepared to meet AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa also, but doubted if she could do so given the circumstances.

Continuing with this kind of 'apolitical meetings,' he planned to meet leaders of almost all political parties including Left and DMDK.

Elangovan, who would tour the state and interact with party workers starting tomorrow, said TNCC would hold grand celebrations to mark the 125th birth anniversary of late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.