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NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 22:

        Even as the Tamilnadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president M Krishnaswamy is trying to strengthen his hold over the party apparatus, speculation is rife that Union Minister and senior Congress leader G K Vasan is working to have Krishnaswamy out and get himself or his nominee appointed for the top party post, informed sources said here today.

G K Vasan

It is said that the Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation Vasan has the support of Congress biggies like Ahmed Patel and Moily in his endeavour to oust Krishnaswamy.         The immediate cause for the speculation that is doing rounds in Sathyamurthy Bhavan, the State headquarters of TNCC, is the appointment of Vasan and Veerappa Moily as members to the Tamilnadu Congress Trust, sources added.         Interestingly, by appointing Vasan and Moily, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has side- stepped an age-old convention of TNCC which requires the concurrence of TNCC president for appointments to the trust.

M Krishnaswamy

        'By doing this the AICC has sent clear signals to the cadres and district- level functionaries as to which side the bread is buttered,' a senior party functionary close to Krishnaswamy said and added that the party was sabotaging its own interests by indulging in such acts which could only weaken the authority of the top man of the State unit.

        He also pointed out that Vasan and his supporters seldom show up at Satyamurthy Bhavan. 'For them, it is the office of Vasan at Alwarpet which is the State Congress headquarters.'

        The senior leader also said Vasan and his followers never consult the TNCC president even on important party matters.

        If this was the story of president's supporters, party workers owing allegiance to Vasan camp said that it was only Krishnaswamy who had disregarded them and their leader. 'Despite invitation, he did not attend Mayura Jayakumar's Pada Yatra culmination event.'

        They also explained that Veerappa Moily came to the function and honoured the aspirations of the cadres and resented the treatment allegedly meted out to Moily by Krishnaswamy supporters for some remarks made at the function.

        At another level, the supporters of Vasan, who hold most party posts are said to be engaged in an aggressive campaign to oust Krishnaswamy by building opinion against him at the taluk and district-level party organisation and communicating it to the AICC.

        Meanwhile, it is being said with a great amount of certainty that before 15 May, Vasan himself may yet again become the party president or get that post for his nominee as the AICC and other party biggies are with the real leader — Vasan, sources added.