The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) is gearing up to organise a rousing reception for former party president Sonia Gandhi and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, who will visit Chennai on October 14 to participate in the ‘Women’s Rights Conference’ organised by the DMK’s women’s wing.
Congress sources say Ms. Sonia Gandhi’s decision to participate in the conference despite her ailing health shows that the relationship between the leadership of the DMK and the Congress is stronger than ever before.
Speaking to The Hindu, TNCC president K.S. Alagiri said Ms. Sonia Gandhi may meet Congress MLAs and MPs. “TNCC took the lead and held a public meeting in support of a caste census. She might want to meet Congress representatives to discuss the issue further,” he said.
When asked how the relationship between the Congress and the DMK had evolved over the past decade, Mr. Alagiri said that while the two parties had been “diplomatic” in the past, the current DMK president and Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, had transformed the relationship.
“The DMK and the Congress are in an alliance, and their relationship has been cagey at times. But after [Chief Minister] Stalin became the president of the DMK, the two parties have forged closer ties. He has transformed the relationship completely, to the extent that he has become the No. 1 confidante of the Congress leadership,” he said.
Mr. Alagiri said that the relationship did not break down even when the two parties were engaged in tense seat-sharing negotiations during the 2021 Assembly election and the DMK refused to allot the same number of seats to the Congress as it had done during the 2016 Assembly election.
In a statement, Mr. Alagiri said Ms. Sonia Gandhi was instrumental in passing the women’s reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha despite not having the numbers. “In what could be called a crowning glory, she was instrumental in then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presenting in the Rajya Sabha the Bill providing 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, despite not having a majority. Almost 13 years later, the BJP has passed the Bill in the Lok Sabha,” he said.
Sources in the Congress said party leaders may not raise the issue of a change in the leadership of the State unit during Ms. Sonia Gandhi’s visit.
