Moopanar averts crisis in TMC

By Radha Venkatesan

CHENNAI, JULY 13. With his eleventh-hour announcement of a non- controversial party senior, Mr. B.S. Gnanadesikan, as the Rajya Sabha nominee, the TMC president, Mr. G.K. Moopanar, today averted a full-scale factional confrontation.

With a majority of MLAs and second-rung leaders opposed to the nomination of the former Civil Aviation Minister, Ms. Jayanthi Natarajan, for the fourth time, Mr. Moopanar was left with no choice but to scout for a ``more acceptable face.''

While the MLAs found Mr. Moopanar's son, Mr. G.K. Govindavsan, the ``most acceptable nominee'' and even signed two sets of nomination papers for him, the image-conscious leader did not wish to appear to be in indecent haste to promote his son.

Barring the TMC Legislature Party leader, Mr. S.R. Balasubramaniam, and the Tiruvadanai MLA, Mr. K.R. Ramasamy, who was away in his home district of Sivaganga, all TMC MLAs signed as proposers for Mr. Govindavasan.

However, when Mr. Moopanar refused to succumb to the MLAs' pressure to nominate Mr. Govindavasan, he had to virtually give them an assurance that he would not field Ms. Natarajan again.

Party sources say Mr. Moopanar's fear was that the PMK, which is short of 13 MLAs to get a Rajya Sabha seat, would have fielded a candidate, had Ms. Natarajan been renominated. Had the PMK too had joined the fray, there would have been a contest and the MLAs fiercely opposed to her might have cross-voted.

Moreover, the Congress MLAs too indicated their reservations about backing her.

And, that left only the TMC general secretaries, Mr. Gnanadesikan, Mr. K.S. Alagiri and Mr. Karvendan, besides the former MP, Mr. Abdul Kader, and a prominent industrialist in the final reckoning.

As both Mr. Alagiri and Mr. Karvendan had served as MLA and MP and nominating the industrialist, who is a rank- outsider to the party, had the potential for triggering a controversy, Mr. Moopanar plumped for Mr. Gnanadesikan, the sources maintain.

After a long-drawn suspense, Mr. Moopanar this morning summoned the MLAs to his Alwarpet residence and directed them to sign the nomination as proposers for Mr. Gnanadesikan. Minutes after the announcement, Ms. Natarajan, whose seat has fallen vacant, arrived there sporting a broad smile.

After a brief interaction with Mr. Moopanar, she appeared along with Mr. Gnanadesikan and declared that she had no regrets over having been denied the seat. ``I am sure Mr. Gnanadesikan would perform better than I did,'' she said.

The 52-year-old lawyer-politician, who had joined the Congress as a student leader in 1967, said he would voice the concerns and problems of the people of Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha. ``It is a precious gift from Mr. Moopanar'' declared Mr. Gnanadesikan.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Gnanadesikan is TMC candidate
Next     : All party nominees sure to win