Meet Congress’s new Tamil Nadu face Manickam Tagore: Rahul Gandhi aide who bet big on Vijay

The Congress leadership on Saturday appointed Lok Sabha Whip B Manickam Tagore as president of the Tamil Nadu Congress, replacing K Selvaperunthagai in a move that reflects not merely a change of faces but a decisive shift in the party’s political instincts after Tamil Nadu’s post-election upheaval.The appointment comes weeks after the Congress broke its long-standing alliance with the DMK, joined Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led government and became part of a Tamil Nadu government for the first time in nearly six decades.If Selvaperunthagai represented continuity with the DMK, Tagore became one of the earliest and loudest advocates of leaving it. Long before the Assembly election, Tagore openly argued the Congress should seek a larger political role instead of remaining a junior ally. He demanded a greater share of Assembly seats, raised questions over sharing power, and was among the first Congress leaders to suggest the party should explore an alliance with Vijay’s TVK. At the time, those arguments unsettled both the DMK and sections within his own party. Party leaders say the leadership change had been expected for weeks. A section of Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu, along with senior figures in New Delhi, had grown increasingly dissatisfied with Selvaperunthagai’s stewardship. While Tagore and several others argued the Congress should reposition itself alongside the TVK, Selvaperunthagai remained committed to preserving the DMK alliance. “He was one of those people who had played a pivotal role in securing power for the Congress in Tamil Nadu. That has played a role in Tagore’s elevation to state president,” said a state Congress leader. The disagreement gradually evolved into a larger contest over the future direction of the party. Even after the Congress entered the TVK government, Selvaperunthagai often appeared politically out of step with his own organisation. On Friday, a day before his replacement, he criticised Vijay for mocking former CM M K Stalin in the Assembly, and questioned the government’s administrative performance despite the Congress being a coalition partner. The criticism only reinforced the perception that his tenure had reached its conclusion. Officially, Selvaperunthagai had already requested the high command to relieve him. He maintained he had decided before the Assembly election not to continue as state president. But his tenure had also been marked by persistent internal dissent. Senior leaders including Tagore and Karur MP S Jothimani questioned the transparency of candidate selection during the Assembly election. Several functionaries accused the state leadership of surrendering the Congress’s bargaining position in the DMK alliance. The change also reflects the Congress high command’s internal equations. Party leaders said Selvaperunthagai never enjoyed Rahul Gandhi’s full confidence, unlike his equation with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Rahul largely kept his distance, neither granting him audience for a prolonged period nor making Tamil Nadu a sustained political priority, limiting his visits to brief campaign appearances during the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2026 Assembly elections. Selvaperunthagai himself had acknowledged that shifting political equations after the Congress joined the TVK government made it difficult for him to continue leading the state unit. His own political trajectory reflected the layered nature of Tamil Nadu politics. Having entered the Congress after earlier stints in other parties, including the VCK, he never entirely acquired the confidence of all sections within the organisation despite becoming the state Congress chief in February 2024. The contrast with Tagore is striking. A three-time Virudhunagar MP, Tagore is regarded as one of Rahul Gandhi’s trusted lieutenants in Tamil Nadu and is also known to be close to AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, one of the Congress leadership’s principal political managers. Inside the p