Vasan splits Congress in Tamil Nadu

In a repeat of 1996, India's Congress in Tamil Nadu was split into two yesterday with former Union shipping minister GK Vasan quitting the party and floating a new outfit. The name of the party and its flag will be announced at a public meeting in Tiruchi.

The split was indeed more serious than was expected with many senior leaders of the erstwhile Tamil Manila Congress (TMC), which was floated by Vasan's father GK Moopanar, moving to the new outfit.

Most significant of the lot was former Member of Parliament Peter Alphonse, who was till last week, in the running for the post of TNCC president after BS Gnanadesikan quit the post.

Vasan's supporters claimed that more than 30 of the 59 district presidents of the TNCC and several former MLAs and MPs have moved into the new party and called it a “vertical split.”