End Bravado, Admit Tamil Nadu Crisis, Says Karti Chidambaram to NDTV

Chennai: Days after the Congress - already a spent force in Tamil Nadu - was split by GK Vasan, the party should abandon "bravado" by professing that "people quitting doesn't matter." That's the blunt assessment of Karti Chidambaram, the 42-year-old lawyer who, like every other Congressman from the state, lost the national election in May. Though he did not name the Gandhis, who head the Congress, Mr Chidambaram appeared critical, stating to NDTV, "We must rethink this high-command observer culture... regional leaders shouldn't be waiting for commands from Delhi...Delhi can't solve the problems of Tamil Nadu."

A similar opinion was offered by Mr Vasan, when he announced on Monday that he is forming his own party. While thanking Sonia and Rahul Gandhi for his years with the Congress, he stressed that merit and quick decisions will be intrinsic to his new outfit, suggesting neither were a part of Congress house style.

Like Mr Vasan, Karti Chidambaram's father, PC Chidambaram, is from Tamil Nadu and worked in the union government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh. Mr Vasan's considerable support group within the Congress in Tamil Nadu has accused Mr Chidambaram of trying to undermine the authority of officials like the state president of the party.

In 1996, Mr Vasan's father, GK Moopanar, had left the Congress to form his own party, the Tamil Maanila Congress. Mr Chidambaram went with him. After his father's death in 2001, Mr Vasan, in 2002, merged his party with the Congress. Mr Chidambaram, who had founded his own outfit, returned to the Congress before the national election in 2004.

Mr Vasan commands the loyalty of more party cadres than the Congress is willing to allow. Two of the five Congress law-makers in the state assembly were seen with him on the day he quit the Congress party.