Pondy CM's appeal to media

By Our Staff Reporter

PONDICHERRY , MAY 22. The Chief Minister, Mr. P. Shanmugham, said here today that he was really pained to read in a section of the press a report that had virtually sought to tarnish his image.

Addressing a team of presspersons who met him after he had presided over a Cabinet meeting here, Mr. Shanmugham said he had never yearned for any office or power. He had been a loyal worker to the Congress(I) and had been acting according to the decisions of the high command.

The fact that Mr. V. Narayanasamy had been posted as president of the PCC(I) here was a decision of the high command. As a matter of fact, he had wholeheartedly proposed along with a few others in the party the name of Mr. Narayanasamy for the presidentship of the party.

After becoming Chief Minister, it would not be correct for him to be in the post of the party's presidentship the `as one man one post' norm should be observed strictly. He said he had a few months back sought to step down from the presidentship of the party. But the AICC(I) president, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, had asked him to continue for some time. That he had become Chief Minister now was also the decision of the high command. ``I had never and would never yearn for any post or power'', he said. Hence the media might ensure that his image was not sullied even as he would not interfere in the freedom of the press at any point of time.

He recalled that as a sincere and dedicated soldier and a responsible worker, he would never attach importance to any post or power. He recalled how he and the late former Chief Minister, V. Venkatasubba Reddiar, and others had built the party despite several odds and challenges.

Mr. Shanmugham appealed to the partymen to extend full support to the new head of the part as they had been cooperating with him during his tenure during the last 25 years as chief of the organisation here. Pondicherry is a distinct pocket where cordiality and camaraderie reigned supreme among partymen and this should be sustained in the future also, he felt.

Mr. A. Gandhiraj, general Secretary of the party, said Mr. Narayanasamy who would return to Pondicherry tomorrow would garland the statues of leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, K. Kamaraj, V. Subbiah, Edouard Goubert and others while driving through important thoroughfares from the border point at Gorimedu. Mr. Narayanasamy would also address partymen tomorrow in the Congress(I) party office in Calve Subbaraya Chettiar street.

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