When Congress in Tamil Nadu defied the norm of nominating presidents | Parami News

Democracy in bloom: In January 1939, K. Kamaraj proposed the name of his leader S. Satyamurti for the post. Omandur P. Ramaswami Reddiar was fielded by the rival camp. Satyamurti lost by 90-125 votes. On February 15, 1940, Kamaraj was elected by a mere three votes. In August 1977, G.K. Moopanar won by securing 320 votes, defeating Pazha Nedumaran and Thanjai Ramamurthi.

The appointment of nominated presidents or “unanimous election” of presidents has become a norm in many parties. What was less known was that the Congress in Tamil Nadu had seen several contests for the post of president, even when at the all-India level, the practice was to zero in on a consensus candidate and get him or her elected to the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) president in 1930s.

In December 1936, C.N. Muthuranga Mudaliar, a Member of the Central Legislative Assembly, defeated S. Satyamurti who held post of Congress president since May 1935 consequent upon resignation of C Rajagopalachari i.e Rajaji.

At a meeting of Tamil Nadu’s elected members from Vellore district attended by Annamalai Pillai and other leaders as well as two prominent candidates for TNCC president’s position – Muthuranga Mudaliyar and Satyamurti – it is reported that Mudaliyar received104 votes against only59votes obtained by his opponent (dated December 6, 1936). Vedaratnam Pillai beats N Annnmalai Pillai hands down with 60 to 19 ( December 6th 1936).

For secretaryship, Satyamurti, as proposed by Annamalai Pillai, was unanimously elected to be one of the two secretaries. The second secretary was C.P. Subbiah who four years later contested Kamaraj, a leading member of the camp led by Satyamurti.

Muthuranga Mudaliar led for over two years. In January 1939, when the election for the chief was due, Kamaraj who rose through the ranks of Congress after participating in Salt Satyagraha March led by Rajaji from Tiruchi to Vedaranyam in April 1930 covering a distance of about 240 km and subsequently becoming Member of Madras Legislative Assembly suggested his leader’s name.

This time Omandur P. Ramaswami Reddiar was fielded as the other contestant by rival camp. Once again its leader lost with a margin of 90-125 votes (January 29th 1939). After that Satyamurti decided not to stand for reelection anymore and begin working for Kamaraj next time.

A place where they met wore an appearance of Hindi Prachar Sabha at T Nagar founded on February 15, 1940; there Annamalai Pillai proposed candidate nominated by Ramnad district congress committee president Kamaraj while Muthuranga Mudaliyar moved a motion regarding Subbiah’s personality for that post. He emerged victorious just having received three votes more than his closest opponent i.e 103 to 100.It heralded “Kamaraj era” within TNCC.

In future years, he will become a great leader who is virtually unchallenged though not without his own critics from both within and without his own party. And then there is no contest as far as his successor is concerned because he left office after bearing it up for twelve years. He temporarily resumed this post until he became Chief Minister in April 1954.

In fact, no election happened till his death in October 1975 either in the Congress (till the 1969 split) and the Congress (Organisation) thereafter, for the post of State president. It was just a matter of time before outgoing presidents were all chosen by unanimous vote.

Congress split

The holders included P. Subbaroyan, L.S. Karalayar, P. Kakkan (the first Scheduled Caste leader to hold it in December 1954), K. Rajaram Naidu, O.V. Alagesan, R. Krishnaswamy Naidu, C. Subramaniam (he became one after being elected to the Lok Sabha earlier that year but lost it this later), and Kakkan again.

Swaminathan headed an Indira Gandhi loyalist group within the divided Congress in 1969. In December 1972, Kakkan handed over leadership of the Congress (Organisation) or Kamaraj’s group as he was called to P. Ramachandran or Pa Raa who later became Energy Minister in Morarji Desai-led Janata Party government of 1977-79.

The former Chief Minister died on October 1975 and this accelerated merger between G.K Moopanar-led breakaway faction of Congress(O) with the Congress or Congress(R) in February 1976. Pa Raa continued to be a part of congress(O) which merged with Janata Party in 1977. Whoever headed The Unified Congress remained neutral when Mr.Moopanar led it .

Unseating congress

When Indira Gandhi lost power and the unseated congress party through general election held on January ,11th ,1977 saw demand for a contest for TNCC president among others.In August 1977(after near about forty years), Pazha Nedumaran ex-congress secretary now non-electoral politics took on Moopanar; Thanjai Ramamurthi was another contestant. 542 out of 611 members of Pradesh Congress Committee voted. On August 11, 1977, Moopanar got the highest number of votes (320), followed by Nedumaran (212) and then Ramamurthi (10). His tenure lasted only a year and a half as yet again another split in the party occurred in January 1978 and he aligned himself with the faction led by Indira Gandhi. Swaminathan replaced him as the chief of congress(indira) in March 1979.For years now not only congress but also any other party has become “a reign of nominated presidents.”

Thangkabalu, unanimous choice.

In the wake of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, when there were struggles for membership of both Congress Working Committee and president ship of many state units during 1990s, tamil nadu stood apart with K.V Thangkabalu’s “unanimous election” in June 1997.