‘We have wasted 57 years; time to re-capture power in Tamil Nadu,’ TNCC chief Selvaperunthagai tells cadres

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president aims to regain power in the state after years of alliance struggles.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai has been telling the party’s cadre across the State that they have to work towards re-capturing power in the State, which it lost in the historic 1967 assembly election when the DMK rode to power.

Speaking to The Hindu after meeting the party workers in Dharmapuri district, Mr. Selvaperunthagai, who even recently praised Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s three-year tenure, said the Congress had ‘wasted 57 years’ without power in Tamil Nadu.

“Today, we are forced to settle for meagre number of seats with our senior alliance partner. It is time to aspire for more,” he said.

The reflective remark probably refers to the manner in which the Congress party was cut to size during seat sharing negotiation with the DMK during the 2021 assembly election and 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The Congress had to settle for 25 seats in 2021 assembly election, which is a significant reduction from the 41 seats it was allotted in 2016. It struggled to get the 10 seats in this year’s Lok Sabha elections, which were allotted to it in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Tamil Nadu Congress leaders have admitted privately that while the DMK president was easier to speak and more understanding, the second level leaders in the DMK were sometimes proving to be difficult to deal with.

Asked how the Congress party, whose individual vote share was measured as a little more than 4% when they contested alone in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, can hope to capture power, Mr. Selvaperunthagai said, “We believe the 4% can be converted into 40%. We have a clear ideology, vision and we just have to motivate our cadres.”