New Delhi: Congress is set to appoint a new PCC chief for Tamil Nadu with the party high command accepting the resignation of PCC chief EVKS Elangovan, who has stepped down owning moral responsibility for the party's poor show in Assembly polls.
"Elangovan had resigned recently. His resignation has been accepted," party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said.
Congress, which had contested 41 seats as part of the DMK-led alliance, could manage only eight of them and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is understood to have expressed his displeasure over the result.
"Our party's state unit chief submitted his resignation on June 15 itself as electoral results were not on expected lines," party functionary VR Sivaraman, a confidant of Elangovan, had said on Saturday.
Factionalism in the party surfaced in the backdrop of the resignation of Elangovan with aspirants lobbying for the top state unit post.
Several names have begun doing the rounds for the TNCC chief post. They include Chidambaram-loyalist and former Chennai deputy mayor Karate Thiagarajan, former state minister in the MGR cabinet Su Thirunavukarasar and former Lok Sabha MP Manicka Tagore.
While factions opposed to Elangovan claimed that he put in his papers after Rahul expressed displeasure over the party's poll performance, Sivaraman rejected it.
Sivaraman had said Elangovan quit owning moral responsbility for the party's performance. Elangovan had submitted his resignation in the office of party chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on June 15, a day after he called on Rahul.
Elangovan's resignation also comes against the backdrop of long-running feud among rival leaders including loyalists of former union minister P Chidambaram.
In April, ahead of the Assembly election, Chidambaram had expressed dissatisfaction over seat-sharing with DMK, saying his party was allotted "seats which we do not need."
The seat-sharing talks were steered by Elangovan in the presence of party senior leaders including Mukul Wasnik.
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