DMK chief greets Sonia Gandhi, heaps praise on Congress

Chennai: DMK president M. K. Stalin congratulated United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on her election as leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

“I extend my hearty greetings to respected Annai (mother) Sonia Gandhi, ”he said in a Facebook post. Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu usually refer Sonia Gandhi as “Annai Sonia” as a mark of respect.

 Stalin said “no power” can remove the Congress party’s “excellent work” from the hearts of the Indian people.

The DMK chief said Congress was the “permanent guarantee for pluralism, secularism, social justice and equality enshrined in the constitution.”  

Also, the poor, middle-class and marginalised sections continued to believe in the Congress, he said.

Sonia Gandhi’s name for the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) leader, proposed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was unanimously endorsed by all party lawmakers, on Saturday.

With this, the suspense is now over whom the chairperson names as the leader of the party in Parliament - her son Rahul Gandhi, who wants to step down as the party chief, or another member. The DMK has been one of the most reliable allies of the Congress and it was Stalin who had pitched Rahul Gandhi’s name for Prime Minister before the Lok Sabha elections. Though the Congress was trounced by the BJP and its allies in most States in the polls, in Tamil Nadu, the DMK and the Congress won 37 of 38 parliamentary seats.