Moopanar set to give TMC a makeover

CHENNAI, April 9: In what appears to be a major revamp exercise, Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) president G Karuppiah Moopanar is opting for a...

CHENNAI, April 9: In what appears to be a major revamp exercise, Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) president G Karuppiah Moopanar is opting for an organisational face-lift that will reduce the number of state-level office-bearers while simultaneously increasing the quantum of district-level second-line leaders.

In the immediate context, Moopanar has to nominate new office-bearers of the TMC in the place of those who resigned en masse on March 21. As part of the restructuring programme, Moopanar — armed with reports from observers who travelled across the state studying the reasons for the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha elections — is meeting district executives and other party functionaries in Chennai for a week beginning from Friday.

Party sources said that the meetings this time would pave the way for rebuilding the party structure so that “experience will be blended with youth”. For instance, a new proposal that has attracted the attention of party functionaries aims at nurturing committed activistsin all the 234 Assembly constituencies. These leaders will carry out the organisational activities determined by district presidents, who will then strive to integrate the constituency-level party work with the overall state plan for party development.

The constituency leaders, sources say, will be chosen according to their ability to deliver. Moopanar would impress upon them the need to nurture their constituencies so that when the time comes to issue party tickets for each Assembly constituency, they will be preferred over others. Moreover, the move to induct leaders constituency-wise is expected to substantially lessen the burden of the state-level office bearers.