On I-PAC’s nudge, Stalin sends Nehru to fix party’s Achilles heel in western region

Nehru had been camping in Coimbatore for a couple of days since August 10, taking inputs from party functionaries and addressing the concerns of disgruntled old timers. The review was arranged shortly after Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) had forecast a marginal slide in its vote bank in an already weak western region despite the party riding high on a popularity wave in the rest of the state.

A party source with knowledge of Nehru’s review in Coimbatore revealed that the functionaries in the textile town had ventilated their grouse against a couple of incumbent district secretaries and alleged nexus between local party functionaries and AIADMK leaders in the region.

One functionary in Coimbatore west had even exposed the alleged business nexus between a district level functionary and a AIADMK MLA there. Coimbatore city (east) district in charge and MLA Karthik was at the receiving end with some of his subordinates alleging slackness in his functioning against influential AIADMK Minister SP Velumani.

Nehru, who took note of the views aired by the functionaries, had arranged a telecom between some sidelined old timers and Stalin after the two-day review. Stalin, a party senior from the western region said, had assured opportunities next year.

Though the outcome of the review has yet to be felt, the exercise was seen among the party rank and file as an attempt to placate party workers in the aftermath of the defection of former deputy general secretary VP Duraisamy and incumbent MLA Ku Ka Selvam to the rival BJP camp. Nehru had done a similar exercise in Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari districts where sacking of old timers by the district secretaries caused unrest in party.

If information spilling out of Anna Arivalayam were something to go by, some minor organisational changes could happen in the western districts.