Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday (July 8, 2026) appointed new All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charges for Tamil Nadu and West Bengal as part of the party’s ongoing organisational reshuffle. 

A statement from AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said Ghulam Ahmed Mir is the new AICC general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu in place of Girish Chodankar. 

Mr. Mir was earlier in charge of West Bengal. Now, Prakash Joshi has been appointed in his place. 

On June 26, the party appointed new AICC in-charges for Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Haryana. While Sanjay Dutt replaced B. K. Hariprasad as the new Haryana in-charge, Mr. Hariprasad was appointed as the new Karnataka Congress chief. Lalji Desai became the new AICC in-charge for Odisha, replacing Ajay Kumar Lallu.

Rajendra Pal Gautam, who heads the Scheduled Caste department of the party, was named as the new in-charge for Uttar Pradesh.

Congress Lok Sabha MP Karti P. Chidambaram said on Friday that the party’s decision to pull out of the alliance led by its long-standing partner DMK, after the 2026 Assembly election, need not necessarily signal the end of the INDIA bloc nationally, as the Congress continues to work with the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress despite competing with them at the State level.

‘Post-poll pacts common’

In an interview to The Hindu, Mr. Karti said post-poll alliances were common worldwide, especially in Europe, and underlined the fact that the Congress’s decision to leave the DMK-led alliance did not deprive it of an opportunity to form the government in the State. “At the ground level, there was no bond between DMK and Congress workers. We were winning elections, but there had always been step-brotherly treatment meted out by the DMK at the ground level. Even during the local bodies elections, there is no proper power-sharing. The Delhi [the high command] decided that in the long term, we need a new relationship and we have to go along with a new party,” he said.

Making an appeal to take a “sober” look at the issue, he said, “You could be a competitor in the State but be a part of the national alliance. The Congress and the CPI(M) and the Congress and the TMC are competing in the States but we are together in Parliament. The manner in which the split happened has resulted in bitterness with the DMK,” he said.

Asked whether he thought the Congress could gain more by allying with the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam and whether it could replace the DMK when it came to stridently opposing the BJP in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Karti said, “We have to see how the relationship evolves. As of now, it is good. We are now part of the State government after 1967. This is a positive. We have been given two Cabinet posts and a Rajya Sabha seat. But the real test is the local bodies elections…and whether it [the alliance] works on the ground. If there is a fair division of power, the alliance will work.”

‘TVK is secular’

With the TVK careful not to step on the BJP’s toes, Mr. Karti added, “The TVK’s line of thinking will only become clear as its leader begins to articulate his thoughts and reacts to situations. He [Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay] has insisted that he is secular and his political alliance has reflected that. I have no doubt that the TVK is secular. The BJP uses various techniques, not just ideology; but we need to see how the TVK  withstands them. The party is a new party and we need to give it time. It is a little unfair to expect it to react from day one.”

As for the reasons for the TVK to win 108 seats, he said the established political parties had failed to notice the “micro-campaign” that happened within “our homes” and refused to acknowledge the information that came from unconventional sources. “I believed that the TVK would get a substantial number of votes. My final assessment was that it would get 28% of the votes. Once they crossed 30% of the votes, they started winning seats. Not only me but also police officers, pollsters, functionaries — all of them miscalculated [the TVK’s reach]. This election has been candidate-agnostic — the voters have voted for the whistle, the TVK, and Mr. Vijay. We didn’t take the social media campaign and micro-campaign that happened in our homes seriously. Which is why when we asked our party men even after the election how many votes the party got in a particular booth, they didn’t tell us that the people voted for the TVK because they didn’t know it themselves.”

Could this be a “black swan” election and the TVK a “one-election” aberration?

“I am not willing to underestimate the TVK. He has contested, he has become the Chief Minister by making at least 100 first-timers win as MLAs, and he has formed the government. They may win or lose an election, but the party is here to stay. Today, there is purchase for unconventional politics across the world, compared with traditional, established political parties. Look at [U.S. President Donald] Trump today. He was conducting beauty pageants. There is a market for “out-of-the box” politics.”

Mr. Karti disagreed with the assertion that “being a part of the government alone could help in the growth of the party in Tamil Nadu”. “The problem with the Congress is that we will be too nice to our senior partner. We shouldn’t shy away from highlighting the people’s issues. Those who are a part of the government should be a part of it, but the party should continue to highlight the people’s issues. We have to assert ourselves. If our [political] identities merges with that of the ruling party, their fall would affect us too. That’s what happened to us.”

Despite Congress leader Rahul Gandhi taking part in the swearing-in of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay in Chennai on Sunday (May 10, 2026), the historic moment of Congress MLAs taking the oath as Cabinet Ministers after almost six decades didn’t come to pass.

Also read: Swearing-in ceremony of T.N. CM Vijay highlights

Party sources said the Congress asked the TVK to accommodate Melur MLA P. Viswanathan and Congress Legislature Party leader S. Rajeshkumar in the Cabinet.

However, the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) suggested that one Congress MLA be sworn in as a Minister now, and another berth could be given to the party during the expansion of the Cabinet. The Congress leadership felt that it was important for both MLAs to be sworn in together, given their significance to the party and their stature.

“Mr. Rajeshkumar is a three-time MLA and Mr. Viswanathan, a former MP, is a senior leader in the party. It was felt that it wouldn’t be appropriate for one to take the oath before the other. So it was decided that the swearing-in could be done later,” a source said.

Furthermore, sources said the TVK was planning to rope in the AIADMK, without its general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, as part of the post-poll alliance, and AIADMK members are likely to be accommodated in the Cabinet too. “All of the coalition partners will be accommodated in the Cabinet together,” said sources.

Another senior leader said the optics of the Congress MLAs taking the oath as Cabinet Ministers in the presence of Mr. Gandhi would have sent a powerful message, and that opportunity was missed. “Mr. Gandhi must have insisted that the Congress MLAs become Ministers in his presence. It would have been apt,” said a senior leader.

On a Saturday afternoon in August 2006, a long-standing Congress leader and former Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sport, Dhanuskodi Athithan, his wife, and daughter were on their way to Thoothukudi from Tirunelveli. It was meant to be a short trip in view of the distance (about 45 km).

But that turned out to be a treacherous trip for the former Union Minister as the car in which he travelled met with an accident near Vagaikulam, leading to the death of his wife and serious injuries to all others in the vehicle. The Congress leader lost his left hand.

Still interested in politics

A traumatic phase in his life has not deterred him from carrying on his normal activity in public life. Though he did not contest in any election after the 2004 Lok Sabha election when he was elected from Tirunelveli for the fifth term, Mr. Athithan remains in politics, taking a keen interest in all the developments. A few days ago, he attended a public meeting addressed by Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin in Palayamkottai.

Talking about the issue of reviving the prospects of the Congress nationwide, Mr. Athithan, in an interview to The Hindu, emphasised that the party must turn itself into a “people’s movement”, by doing field work and taking up people’s issues. “Look at the Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts where the party is still strong. This is because of this approach,” the former Union Minister pointed out.

Asked whether the party’s leaders in Tamil Nadu would have the confidence to convert the party into a people’s movement after the organisation had served as a junior ally of either of the Dravidian parties in the last 55-odd years, he answered, “It is for the leadership to do that. It would be good if the leadership exhibits its strength,” he says, recalling that the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee’s former chief G.K. Moopanar had shown the way and stood steadfast in strengthening the party further.

Mr. Athithan had followed Moopanar when he founded the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) in April 1996. He returned to the Congress when the TMC(M) was merged with the national party in August 2002. He recounted how Moopanar persuaded him to become a Union Minister when the United Front government was in office during 1996-98, though he had suggested to the TMC(M) founder to give the opportunity to N. Dennis, who had represented Nagercoil (now Kanniyakumari) in the Lok Sabha for six terms.

‘Base is not narrow’

On the perception that “the party is a force to reckon with” in southern districts in view of its following among certain sections such as the Scheduled Castes and religious minorities, Mr. Athithan did not agree with the view that the party had a narrow base. “Nadars have been a source of support to the party since the days of former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj. The same holds good in respect of the the Scheduled Castes too,” he said.

Asked for his suggestion to those who face troubled times like the one that he underwent nearly 20 years ago, Mr. Athithan’s reply: “Be self-confident.” He added that he resumed his political activity within six months of the accident.