JOIN USAs he began a two-day mood-checking whirlwind tour of Tamil Nadu from Chennai, Rahul said though the coming assembly elections “is very important”, the real challenge was the state-wide panchayat elections in September-October 2011.
At a huge marriage hall at Vanagaram on the city’s outskirts, to where he hopped in a chopper from the airport, there were no chairs.
Youth Congress delegates at various levels from eight Parliamentary constituencies packed it, sitting on mattresses. The dais too had an AICC session-like backdrop as he interacted with them.
Disappointment
But the Youth Congress members later looked disappointed, as Rahul told them there were no short-cut methods to success in politics. More so here, the Congress had been out of power for over 40 years now in Tamil Nadu and so “the battle of yours is going to take a long time to come back to power in Tamil Nadu.”
He assured the delegates of giving maximum representation to the Youth Congress while distributing tickets for the assembly polls.
Nevertheless, he said they must first capture the political space at the panchayat level like the Left did in Kerala and Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu.
The next CM
Once the Youth Congress had a large pool of successful people at the panchayat level, those who were closer to the people and whom people believe in, Rahul said: “In some years, we are going to find the chief minister of Tamil Nadu from this (youth) group.”
However, a minute later when he posed how many of them “did not like the present politics of Tamil Nadu,” almost everyone put up their hands.
Later, the Congress general secretary had an hour-long closed-door interaction with film personalities, writers and intellectuals of Chennai in a five-star hotel.