In the run-up to the 2014 Parliamentary election, leaders from the Gounder community from the Kongu region – predominantly, western Tamil Nadu – came together to launch the Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam.
Led by S. Ramasamy alias ‘Best’ Ramasamy as president and E.R. Easwaran as general secretary, the party’s objective was to work for the development of the Kongu region, which, they alleged, the successive AIADMK and DMK governments had neglected.
Fast Forward 2016.
There are four Kongu parties. One is an ally of the DMK, the second is with the BJP, the third is contesting alone and the fourth is negotiating with the AIADMK.
The best part of is that two of the parties are contesting against one another.
Mr. Eswaran’s Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi will contest against G.K. Nagaraj’s Kongunadu Jananayaka Katchi in Gobichettipalayam in Erode district and Komarapalayam in Namakkal district.
Mr. Eswaran is contesting independently and Mr. Nagaraj as an ally of the BJP.
The youngest of the four Kongu parties, Namathu Kongu Munnetra Kazhagam led by M. Thangavelu is with the DMK.
Mr. Ramasamy who leads the Dheeran Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam is negotiating with the AIADMK.
Where the four parties stand today is a telling example of what the people who launched the Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam did not want to do: they wanted a united voice that would highlight the region’s demands independent of the big parties.
In the 2009 Parliamentary election, the party fielded 12 candidates and secured 1.39 per cent of the total votes polled in the State.
In that election, the party did not ally with any party and in a few seats it contested, managed to secure over 1 lakh votes.
Two years later in the 2011 Assembly election, the party allied with the DMK , contested in seven, lost all and secured one per cent of the total votes polled in the State.
Troubled started soon thereafter as leaders started blaming one another for the defeat. The internecine conflict saw Mr. Eswaran start the Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi.
Sometime later, Mr. Nagaraj left to start the Kongunadu Jananayaka Katchi and now in March 2016, Mr. Thangavel the Namathu Kongu Munnetra Kazhagam.
Mr. Eswaran says the Kongu cause has not suffered in any way because his is the only party with people’s support.
“One cannot call the exit of a few individuals as a split and those outfits that exist only on paper as parties“.
This election will show who has people’s support and that will settle the issue, he adds.
Mr. Thangavelu says that the seven years journey since the launch of the Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam and the split into four parties only shows that the Kongu leaders have not achieved what they set out to.
Plus, importantly, it also proves that the Kongu region can only be developed by aligning with the two big Dravidian parties, he adds.
Mr. Nagaraj says it is a few leaders who have failed the Kongu cause. It was their growth and not party’s that they had in mind.
This Assembly election is an opportunity for the voters to identify the real leader of the region. Mr. Ramasamy could not be reached for his comments.
Led by S. Ramasamy alias ‘Best’ Ramasamy as president and E.R. Easwaran as general secretary, the party’s objective was to work for the development of the Kongu region, which, they alleged, the successive AIADMK and DMK governments had neglected.
Fast Forward 2016.
There are four Kongu parties. One is an ally of the DMK, the second is with the BJP, the third is contesting alone and the fourth is negotiating with the AIADMK.
The best part of is that two of the parties are contesting against one another.
Mr. Eswaran’s Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi will contest against G.K. Nagaraj’s Kongunadu Jananayaka Katchi in Gobichettipalayam in Erode district and Komarapalayam in Namakkal district.
Mr. Eswaran is contesting independently and Mr. Nagaraj as an ally of the BJP.
The youngest of the four Kongu parties, Namathu Kongu Munnetra Kazhagam led by M. Thangavelu is with the DMK.
Mr. Ramasamy who leads the Dheeran Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam is negotiating with the AIADMK.
Where the four parties stand today is a telling example of what the people who launched the Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam did not want to do: they wanted a united voice that would highlight the region’s demands independent of the big parties.
In the 2009 Parliamentary election, the party fielded 12 candidates and secured 1.39 per cent of the total votes polled in the State.
In that election, the party did not ally with any party and in a few seats it contested, managed to secure over 1 lakh votes.
Two years later in the 2011 Assembly election, the party allied with the DMK , contested in seven, lost all and secured one per cent of the total votes polled in the State.
Troubled started soon thereafter as leaders started blaming one another for the defeat. The internecine conflict saw Mr. Eswaran start the Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi.
Sometime later, Mr. Nagaraj left to start the Kongunadu Jananayaka Katchi and now in March 2016, Mr. Thangavel the Namathu Kongu Munnetra Kazhagam.
Mr. Eswaran says the Kongu cause has not suffered in any way because his is the only party with people’s support.
“One cannot call the exit of a few individuals as a split and those outfits that exist only on paper as parties“.
This election will show who has people’s support and that will settle the issue, he adds.
Mr. Thangavelu says that the seven years journey since the launch of the Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam and the split into four parties only shows that the Kongu leaders have not achieved what they set out to.
Plus, importantly, it also proves that the Kongu region can only be developed by aligning with the two big Dravidian parties, he adds.
Mr. Nagaraj says it is a few leaders who have failed the Kongu cause. It was their growth and not party’s that they had in mind.
This Assembly election is an opportunity for the voters to identify the real leader of the region. Mr. Ramasamy could not be reached for his comments.