Tamil Nadu Congress chief ‘thanks’ Jayanthi Natarajan for quitting

Chennai: In a scathing attack on Jayanthi Natarajan, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President E V K S Elangovan on Friday "thanked" her for quitting the party and said it would "purify" Congress manifold as she did not "serve it."

"Since you have resigned now, hope has emerged that Congress will have a bright future and I convey crores of thanks on behalf party workers for your decision," he said in his reaction to her quitting. Natrajan, however, did not attack the state Congress leadership.

Attacking her for levelling "defamatory allegations" against the Congress high command, he said "whether Ganga is cleaned up or not...Congress party will be purified manifold more since you have quit."

He also wanted to know if she was making the allegations based on Prime Minister Modi's "advice" or "intimidation."

"She did not do any service to the party during her 27 year long stint as Rajya Sabha member," he said and added that "Jayanthi joining the party in 1984 was a political accident."

Seeking to pick holes in her argument that her family had a legacy of being Gandhi family loyalists, he said, "Nobody can also deny that it was due to her family that Congress was defeated in the 1967 elections in Tamil Nadu."

Jayanthi's grandfather M Bakthavatsalam was the last Congress Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu between 1963-67.

Significantly, he also said "Tamil Nadu Congress would certainly attain salvation if one more person quits along with his heir."

The taunt is apparently aimed at former Union Minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram.

Karti is facing the heat after he held a meeting of his supporters "G-67" on January 22 in which he appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his political knowledge and acumen.

"The anguish of Congress workers cannot be described in words when those who enjoyed the comforts of office as Union Ministers for ten years ran away afraid of going to the people when polls were announced for Parliament," Elangovan said.

Both Chidambaram and GK Vasan (who floated Tamil Maanila Congresss in November last) did not contest polls.