The Congress management on Saturday appointed Lok Sabha Whip B. Manickam Tagore because the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Meeting, changing Okay. Selvaperunthagai, in a transfer that displays not only a change in look but additionally a decisive shift within the occasion’s political instincts after the post-election turmoil in Tamil Nadu.
The appointment comes weeks after the Congress broke its long-standing alliance with the DMK and joined the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK)-led authorities led by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, changing into a part of the Tamil Nadu state authorities for the primary time in almost 60 years.
If Selvaperunthagai symbolizes continuity with the DMK, Tagore grew to become one of many earliest and most vocal advocates for leaving the DMK. Lengthy earlier than the parliamentary elections, Tagore overtly argued that the Congress ought to search a better political position as a substitute of remaining a junior ally. He was among the many first Congress leaders to demand a bigger share of parliamentary seats, elevate questions over power-sharing and recommend that the occasion ought to contemplate a tie-up with Mr. Vijay’s TVK. On the time, these arguments upset each the DMK and sections inside his personal occasion.
Occasion leaders mentioned the management change had been anticipated for weeks. Some Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu, together with senior officers in New Delhi, have been rising dissatisfied with Selvaperunthagai’s administration. Though Tagore and a number of other others argued that the Congress must be repositioned alongside the TVK, Selvaperunthagai remained dedicated to preserving the DMK alliance.
“He was one of many individuals who performed a pivotal position in securing energy within the Tamil Nadu Congress. This helped Mr. Tagore develop into the state president,” a Congress chief mentioned.
This disagreement progressively advanced into a bigger debate over the longer term path of the occasion. Even after the Congress entered the TVK authorities, Selvaperuntagay usually appeared politically out of step together with his personal group. On Friday, a day earlier than his succession, he criticized Mr. Vijay for mocking former CM MK Stalin within the Meeting and questioned the federal government’s administrative efficiency regardless of the Congress being a coalition companion.
This criticism solely strengthened the notion that his time period had reached its finish. Formally, Selvaperuntagay had already requested his dismissal from the excessive command. He claimed that he had determined to not proceed as state president earlier than the parliamentary elections. Nonetheless, his tenure was additionally marked by deep inside opposition.
Senior leaders, together with Tagore, Karur MP and S Jyotimani, questioned the transparency of candidate choice in the course of the meeting elections. A number of officers accused the state management of abandoning the Congress’ bargaining place within the DMK alliance.
This transformation additionally displays the inner equations of the parliamentary excessive command. Occasion leaders mentioned Selvaperunthagai by no means loved Rahul Gandhi’s full confidence in contrast to his equal with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Rahul has largely saved his distance, with out granting long-term audiences or making Tamil Nadu a sustained political precedence, limiting his visits to short-term campaigning in the course of the 2024 and 2026 parliamentary elections.
Selvaperuntagay himself admitted that the change within the political equation after the Congress joined the TVK authorities made it tough to proceed to steer the state unit.
His personal political trajectory mirrored the multi-layered nature of politics in Tamil Nadu. Though he joined parliament after earlier stints in different events, together with the VCK, he was unable to realize full belief from all sections of the group, regardless that he took over as speaker of the state parliament in February 2024.
The distinction with Tagore is hanging. Tagore, a three-time Virudhunagar meeting member, is taken into account considered one of Rahul Gandhi’s trusted lieutenants in Tamil Nadu and can also be identified to be near AICC basic secretary KC Venugopal, one of many Congress management’s key political managers.
Inside the occasion, Tagore has lengthy been seen as a frontrunner whose political message mirrored Delhi’s evolving considering greater than nationwide calculations. His appointment subsequently alerts not only a reorganization however a consolidation of the Rahul Gandhi-Venugopal camp in Tamil Nadu.
Tagore’s political rise was systematic. Born in Sivaganga in 1975 and educated in regulation, he rose steadily via the ranks of the Indian Nationwide Union of College students and the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) earlier than taking up organizational tasks on the nationwide stage, together with election commissioner of the IYC and chairman of the Central Election Fee.
However in contrast to many Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu, Tagore usually appeared extra snug upsetting political debate than sustaining political consolation. His repeated criticisms of the DMK’s therapy of the Congress usually irritated his former alliance companion. The DMK’s IT wing and Tagore have been repeatedly at loggerheads in public over seat-sharing, coalition politics and the Congress’ place within the coalition.
However his fixed argument that Congress ought to cease appearing like a everlasting junior companion in the end grew to become the occasion’s personal technique. Tagore was amongst those that secured three extra seats in pre-election negotiations with the DMK, based on leaders acquainted with the negotiations. The occasion in the end accepted 28 constituencies and gained 5, however its bigger political objectives took a unique flip after a divided verdict created the primary coalition authorities in a long time in Tamil Nadu.
For months, Mr. Tagore, together with coverage strategist Praveen Chakravarthy, had argued internally that Mr. Vijay’s rise represented a structural change in Tamil Nadu politics, slightly than merely the entry of a brand new actor into the Dravidian contest. Few leaders in Congress shared that evaluation so early on. Now the occasion itself appears to have accepted it.
Regardless of common presidential adjustments, the occasion continues to have parliamentary management that has disproportionate affect in comparison with its organizational energy on the bottom. Derry nonetheless produces sharp parliamentarians, energetic spokespeople and expert negotiators. Nonetheless, constructing unbiased grassroots organizations stays an open problem.
Tagore takes cost at a time when the Congress has entered the state authorities for the primary time in a long time and, though ministers are within the cupboard, it stays largely depending on alliances for electoral relevance. His speedy activity is to arrange for native authorities elections and the following parliamentary elections, whereas strengthening the occasion throughout the TVK-led coalition authorities. It stays unclear whether or not organizational reforms can be applied along with the change in management.
