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Chennai, May 13: A national Congress leader remarked in a TV show today that he was not perturbed by the defeat in Tamil Nadu as they had lost power in the state in 1967 and had not been able to recapture it.
That is the sorry state of affairs in the national party in Tamil Nadu which came to the fore today when it won just 5 seats out of the 63 that it ‘wrested’ from the DMK in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
The five seats are:
Vilavancode – Vijayadharini beat Leema Rose (CPM)
Killiyur – John Jacob defeated George (AIADMK)
Pattukottai – Rangarajan beat by Senthil Kumar (DMDK)
Hosur – Gopinath trounced Dr S Johnson (DMDK)
Colachel – G J Prince defeated P Lawrence (AIADMK)
Among the prominent losers were TNCC president K V Thangkabalu (Mylapore), Dr Chellakumar (T Nagar), Gnanasekaran (Vellore), Yasoda (Sriperumbudur - Reserve), Jayakumar (Madurantakam - Reserve), Selvaperunthagai (Chengam – Reserve), Vidiyal Sekar (Kangeyam), Thirunavukkarasar (Aranthangi), Peter Alphonse (Kadayanallur), H Vasantha Kumar (Nanguneri).
The Congress has always been riddled with factions. But during the Tamil Nadu elections, the factional feud spilled on to the road and took monstrous proportions. The leaders were more interested in pulling the rug from under the feet of other leaders than leading from the front and putting up at least a semblance of unity in front of the electorate. The worst barbs and protests were reserved for TNCC president Thangkabalu.
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