Soon after the Congress announced a major rejig in its Tamil Nadu unit ahead of the Assembly elections this year, Member of Parliament (MP) and party leader Karti Chidambaram on Saturday said that such "jumbo committees" served no purpose as none of the appointees would have any authority, which would mean "no accountability". In the organisational rejig, Karti Chidambaram has been named in the executive committee, pradesh election committee and the election coordination committee.
The Congress on Saturday announced a major rejig in the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) and set up key election-related panels which included Karti's father P Chidambaram and former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar in them. The party has named 32 vice presidents, 57 general secretaries and 104 secretaries in the jumbo state unit. Ruby R Manoharan has been appointed the treasurer of the party's state unit, a statement issued by Congress general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal said.
Tagging a tweet on the organisational changes by the party in Tamil Nadu, Karti Chidambaram tweeted, "These jumbo committees serve no purpose. 32 VP, 57 GS, 104 Secretaries. None will have any authority which means no accountability."
He tagged the Twitter handles of the Congress, TNCC, Venugopal, AICC Tamil Nadu in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and former party chief Rahul Gandhi.
These jumbo committees serve no purpose. None will have any authority which means no accountability. @INCIndia @INCTamilNadu @kcvenugopalmp @dineshgrao @RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi https://t.co/C8p4nIwNSX
— Karti P Chidambaram (@KartiPC) January 2, 2021
Responding to his tweet, other Congress leaders and party supporters pointed out that the appointments were a recognition of their hard work. They further alleged that they were not posted in the new designations because of their 'father', taking a dig at Karti's lineage, which gave him an undeniable advantage within the party. Several others asked why the Congress MP had to raise these matters on social media instead of discussing it with his party privately.
Many hard working youth congress,NSUI, Mahila congress, SC Dept functionaries made it into the @INCTamilNadu Committees not because of their Father. My hardwork from Nsui IYC first time made to state team Hope “ some became MP because of Father can’t understand.@KS_Alagiri https://t.co/THFF9hU37l
— Mahendran.. விவசாயி.. விசுவாசி (@iycmahe) January 2, 2021
The appointments come months ahead of the Assembly polls, likely to take place in April or May. The Congress is likely to contest the polls as part of the opposition alliance headed by the DMK to take on the ruling AIADMK coalition.
(With inputs from PTI)