Chennai, July 6 (IANS) The Congress’s Tamil Nadu unit onn Monday reaffirmed its support for the C. Joseph Vijay-led state government, resolved to intensify its opposition to Karnataka’s proposed Mekedatu dam project, and demanded a Supreme Court-supervised probe into the alleged misappropriation of donations at the Ayodhya Ram Temple.

At its state Executive Committee meeting, chaired by new state President and MP B. Manickam Tagore, at Satyamurthy Bhavan, seven key resolutions covering political strategy, organisational restructuring, governance, corruption, fuel prices and inter-state water disputes were adopted.

The executive committee also resolved to celebrate the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj with week-long programmes across Tamil Nadu and strengthen the party’s grassroots organisational structure ahead of future elections.

Several senior Congress leaders attended the meeting, including former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Congress Legislature Party leader and Tourism Minister S. Rajeshkumar, former state unit chiefs K.V. Thangabalu, M. Krishnasamy, Selvaperunthagai, and K.S. Alagiri, Congress state in-charge Nivedita Alva, former Union Minister Thirunavukkarasar, Members of Parliament Vijay Vasanth, Praveen Chakravarty, Vishnu Prasad, Sudha Ramakrishnan, Gopinath and Christopher Tilak, AICC Permanent Member Dr. Chellakumar, AICC national Secretaries Aravazhi, Mayura Jayakumar and Mohan Kumaramangalam, besides several senior office-bearers and district leaders.

One of the major political resolutions passed by the executive committee formally endorsed the Congress decision to support the formation of the TVK government following the political developments in Tamil Nadu after the Assembly election. The resolution said the Congress Political Affairs Committee had decided on May 5 to support a government led by TVK President C. Joseph Vijay in order to prevent what it described as attempts by the BJP to install a government through the Governor.

The committee also congratulated Rajeshkumar on assuming office as Tourism Minister and P. Viswanathan on becoming Higher Education Minister in the Vijay-led government. T

It resolved to celebrate the July 15 birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Kamaraj with week-long programmes throughout Tamil Nadu. District, city, town, panchayat and village Congress units have been asked to organise welfare activities, hoist the party flag and pay floral tributes to Kamaraj.

The meeting also directed district units to conduct anti-corruption campaigns under the slogan “Nenjam Nimir, Lancham Thavir (Stand Tall with Self-respect, Avoid Bribery)”.

The party also decided to accelerate its organisational restructuring programme. Observers will be deputed to every district to reorganise taluk, city, circle, and town panchayat Congress committees under the second phase of the organisational exercise. The meeting further resolved to establish Mandal Congress Committees for every five polling booths in accordance with the directives of the party’s top leadership to strengthen the party’s booth-level network.

On national issues, the executive committee demanded a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya. Referring to the ongoing police investigation into the alleged diversion of temple donations, the resolution alleged that several crores of rupees had been siphoned off and sought greater transparency in the functioning of the temple trust.

It also demanded that information relating to the Ram Temple administration be brought within the ambit of the Right to Information Act so that the public could scrutinise the utilisation of donations.

The meeting also criticised the Union BJP government over fuel pricing, alleging that while petrol and diesel prices are increased whenever international crude oil prices rise, reductions in global crude prices are not passed on to consumers. The executive committee claimed that the Centre had collected massive revenues through excise duty over the past 12 years while consumers continued to bear the burden of high fuel prices. It also urged the Centre to ensure that private oil companies reduce retail fuel prices in line with public sector oil marketing companies.

On the Cauvery issue, the executive committee strongly opposed Karnataka’s attempts to construct the proposed Mekedatu dam, describing the project as being contrary to the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s final award and the 2018 Supreme Court judgment. The resolution endorsed Manickam Tagore’s recent statement that not “even a single brick” should be laid for the project without Tamil Nadu’s consent and pledged that the Tamil Nadu Congress would launch agitations to safeguard the interests of Cauvery delta farmers.

Apart from adopting the resolutions, the meeting also discussed strategies for the forthcoming local body elections and other organisational matters.

–IANS

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