Tamil Nadu Congress Chief KS Alagiri Meets Kharge Amid Speculation Over Leadership Change

Till now, the speculations are rife that Sriperumbudur MLA Selvaperunthagai, Karur MP Jothimani and former IAS officer Sasikanth Senthil are in a race for the top seat in the state. 

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president KS Alagiri along with his supporters met Mallikarjun Kharge in Bengaluru on Friday. Though the party and leaders dubbed it as a zonal conference, there is speculation that the meeting by Alagiri was to save his chair as TNCC chief until Lok Sabha polls. Till now, the speculations are rife that Sriperumbudur MLA Selvaperunthagai, Karur MP Jothimani and former IAS officer Sasikanth Senthil are in a race for the top seat in the state. 

After the meeting, KS Alagiri said, "The meeting was particularly for our zonal conference. I have invited our leader to attend it."

Alagiri met Kharge along with Velachery MLA JMK Aassan Maulana, Ponneri MLA Durai Chandrasekar, Sholingur MLA AM Munirathnam, Colachel MLA JG Prince and Vriddhachalam MLA S Radhakrishnan. Sources told TOI that Kharge informed MLAs that no decision has been taken regarding the TNCC chief yet. 

Alagiri has served as TNCC chief for the four-and-a-half-years and during the term Congress has faced several ups and downs especially during Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2021. 

Meanwhile, there are currently three camps inside Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC), with the first being led by the current president Alagiri, the second by Selvaperuthungai, the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), and the third by Sasikanth Senthil's supporters.

Karur MP Jothimani also has a strong relationship with the Congress high command. 

The leadership change is anticipated since Congress and the ruling DMK are in a political coalition and they are expected to win all 39 of the state's seats in the Lok Sabha.