The Congress on Saturday appointed Virudhunagar Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore as the party’s Tamil Nadu unit president, replacing K Selvaperunthagai.
Sources said Tagore has been rewarded for playing an instrumental role in the Congress’s power-sharing talks with the TVK after the Tamil Nadu elections. “He was one of those people who played a pivotal role in securing power for the Congress in Tamil Nadu. That has played a role in Tagore’s elevation to PCC president,” said a TN Congress leader.
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Tagore is also the AICC in-charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. A three-time MP from Virudhnagar in Tamil Nadu, 51-year-old Tagore is the Congress’s whip in the last Lok Sabha.
In the 2024 elections, he narrowly defeated V Vijaya Prabhakaran of the DMDK by 4,379 votes. Tagore began his political career with the Congress’s student arm NSUI as a district general secretary and rose through the ranks to hold several key positions in the party.
Apart from his role in Tamil Nadu, Tagore has also been among the front benchers in the Lok Sabha and is considered a “fighter” within party circles.
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He was among the eight MPs who were suspended from the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session in February for “unruly behaviour”. The suspensions were later revoked. During the period of his suspension, Tagore’s protest at the Parliament complex had caught the eyeballs of many, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who had also extended his solidarity to the group.
Tagore is considered by Gandhi and many within the Congress as a leader who will not shy away from a fight and will stay rooted to the cause against the BJP.
A three-time MP from Virudhnagar in Tamil Nadu, 51-year-old Tagore is the Congress’s whip in the last Lok Sabha. (Imge: @RajeshKumarSMLA/X) 
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