Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Manickam Thakur has issued a directive that party banners and advertisements should not feature photographs of faction leaders, according to party sources.
The instruction says that for party functions, public meetings and related publicity material, only the images of All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi should be used.
Party leaders pointed to a recent anti-NEET seminar in Salem where the stage banner carried only Rahul Gandhi’s photo, and access to the dais was restricted to speakers. Thakur was seated in the front row along with leaders such as Mayura Jayakumar and Vijay Vasanth.
A similar approach was followed at a district presidents’ meeting at the party’s state headquarters, Sathyamurthy Bhavan in Chennai, where the event banner displayed only Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. Sources said Thakur believes the move can help reduce internal factional disputes.
They added that he has also toured Dharmapuri, Salem, Krishnagiri and Coimbatore to assess whether district-level functionaries are actively engaged in party work, and is planning to meet family members of former ministers who served in the Kamaraj cabinet.
