The long-running saga to find a new president for the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) is likely to continue for some more time, according to party sources.
The party’s State unit sources privy to the details of the meeting of past and present Congress office-bearers and members of the State legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha with former president of the party Sonia Gandhi and AICC General Secretary in Chennai, said there was no consensus among leaders on who should succeed K.S. Alagiri, the current TNCC president.
Mr. Alagiri, who was appointed just before the 2019 Lok Sabha election for a tenure of three years, will complete five years in the post in February next year.
Some office-bearers told The Hindu that three persons — one MP, one MLA and one AICC secretary — had reiterated to Ms. Gandhi the need for a new State unit president and an urgent revamp of the party’s infrastructure before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
They had reportedly told Ms. Gandhi that little effort had been made for setting up booth committees and with respect to other district-level appointments. However, an office-bearer of one of wings of the TNCC rejected complaints against Mr. Alagiri and reportedly said it was unfair to blame just one person for the lack of activity in the party as it was the responsibility of MPs and MLAs to ensure that booth committees were set up in their constituencies.
Another TNCC office-bearer had told Ms. Gandhi that none of the senior leaders from Tamil Nadu who have been demanding a change in State-level leadership could decide a common candidate to replace Mr. Alagiri.
“Either they wanted it [the post] for themselves
