Various factions of the Congress' Tamil Nadu unit today exhibited a rare show of unity when several leaders including former TNCC chief EVKS Elangovan participated at a protest held against the detention of their Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in Delhi over the OROP issue.
TNCC President Su Thirunavukkarasar, Elangovan and other leaders slammed the detention of Gandhi by Delhi police three times in two days.
Gandhi's detention "shows their (Centre) anti-democratic attitude and arrogance," Thirunavukkarasar said.
"We condemn this illegal act," he said at the protest.
Elangovan, who had resigned as TNCC chief in June owning responsibility for the party's dismal performance in the May 2016 Assembly polls, also joined his successor in criticising the Centre today.
He questioned "whether there is no permission for the leader of the main opposition party" to visit the family of the ex-serviceman.
Rahul Gandhi was detained twice on Wednesday after he tried to meet the family members of the ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who allegedly committed suicide over the One Rank One Pension (OROP) issue.
Gandhi was detained for the third time yesterday, when the Delhi Police picked him up from Jantar Mantar to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide.
Today's protest by TNCC turned out to be a rare show of unity as various leaders of the faction-riddled state Congress unit were present at the protest meeting.
Besides Elangovan, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karthi, ex-TNCC Presidents KV Thangkabalu and Krishnasamy, AICC General Secretary Nagma and All India Spokesperson Khushbu Sundar were present at the protest meeting.
Interestingly, Elangovan had virtually boycotted a protest led by Thirunavukkarasar last month on the Cauvery issue at Tiruchirappally, when he visited Apollo Hospitals here to inquire about the health of ailing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
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