TN Congress Chief Faces Heat: Translation Slip or Missing Funds Row?

Rahul Gandhi is upset with the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) chief Selvaperunthagai and wants him to resign after polling in the state. From the face of it the TNCC chief is being hauled up for a translation fiasco.  That is Selvaperunthagai is supposed to have misrepresented Rahul while translating his speech. At a public rally when Rahul by mistake said AIADMK instead of DMK, the TNCC chief also parroted the same line without correcting it to alliance partner, DMK. When his gaffe became viral, Rahul got livid and asked the TNCC chief to stay put in his Sriperumbudur constituency. Party circles in Tamil Nadu are however not convinced that Rahul has taken a harsh view of Selva for gaffe. The buzz in the TN Congress circles is that Selvaperunthagai is being punished for something bigger — the loss of huge sums of election funds that the TN PCC had received. Party bosses see Selvaperunthagai’s alleged role in “missing” election funds – around Rs 25 crore. In fact, it was this hunt for funds that made Selvaperunthagai fake an Income-tax raid on April 20 morning. When I-T denied it had not raided him, he had nowhere to hide his face. The only person who came in support of his fake I-T raid was chief minister M K Stalin. As for Rahul Gandhi he set off on his own for a rally at Colachel, Kanyakumari without the TNCC chief.  It is being said Rahul has come to deeply mistrust the DMK; he has not shared any rally with the ally, nor mentioned DMK’s name in course of his speech. He apparently suspects DMK has purchased Congress men in Tamil Nadu.