Congress floor leader in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, K Selvaperunthagai, was on Saturday, February 17, appointed as the president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) while deputy floor leader, S Rajesh Kumar, MLA of Killiyoor constituency of Kanniyakumari, has been made the floor leader. The announcement was made by the All India Congress Committee's general secretary KC Venugopal. Selvaperunthagai is the first Dalit leader to be selected as TNCC president in the last 40 years. Before that, Elayaperumal and Maragatham Chandrasekhar were the only Dalit leaders who worked as TNCC presidents in the past.
Selvaperunthagai replaces Alagiri who assumed office in 2019. Selvaperunthagai started his political career after he joined Puthiya Bharatam party back in the early 2000s. Later, he joined Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and contested in the 2006 assembly elections. He was elected and represented the Mangalore constituency from Cuddalore district. He fell out with Thol. Thirumavalavan, VCK's president. Later, he joined Congress in 2011. He contested thrice in Congress seat in assembly elections. In 2011, he was defeated in the Sengam constituency and in the 2016 elections, he was defeated in the Sriperumbudur constituency. In the 2021 elections, he contested again from the Sriperumbudur constituency, from where he was elected and sent to the state assembly.
This recent announcement is viewed as very significant as it happened just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It is to be noted that there was pressure given to the party leaders in Delhi to replace KS Alagiri in the last two years. Alagiri was the only state president who managed to complete 5 years in the last 25 years and he successfully held talks with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to get a decent number of seats in alliance for the 2019 general elections, 2021 assembly elections, and 2022 urban local body elections.