Former PPCC chief A. V. Subramanian resigns from party ahead of Assembly polls

Amid the crisis in the Congress party over distribution of Assembly election ticket for the April 9 polls in the Union Territory, former president of the Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee A. V. Subramanian has submitted his resignation from the party.

In a letter to the PPCC president V. Vaithilingam, Mr. Subramanian said he was resigning from all posts in the party. “Due to some personal reasons and unavoidable circumstances, I am resigning from the Congress party and all positions I was holding so far,” the letter said.

One of the senior-most leaders in Puducherry Congress, Mr. Subramanian, who belongs to the fishermen community, has represented Karaikal South in the past. He has served as Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Minister in the previous Congress governments.

His sudden decision to sever ties with the Congress was attributed to his son A.V.S. Sakthivel Prabu’s candidature from Karaikal South. Mr. Prabu has filed nomination as a Congress candidate from the constituency. Karaikal South is the sitting seat of the DMK and the Dravidian party had renominated A. M. H. Nazeem for the seat. 

While releasing the list of Congress candidates for the 16 seats on Friday, Mr. Vaithilingam had warned of disciplinary action against those contesting in constituencies allocated to the DMK. The PPCC chief had also stated the party’s decision to campaign only for the constituencies that found a mention in the official list of 16.

A close aide of Mr. Subramanian told The Hindu that Mr. Subramanian has decided to campaign for his son in the constituency. He did not want to campaign as a Congress functionary after the dictate issued by the PPCC chief. Hence, he has resigned from the party, he said.