Bureaucrat-turned-politician Sasikanth Senthil front runner for TN Cong chief post

Chennai, June 21 (IANS) Sasikanth Senthil, a 2009 batch ex-IAS officer of Karnataka cadre hailing from Chennai and one of the four key strategists in Karnataka who ensured Congress victory, is the front runner for the post of Tamil Nadu Pradesh Congress Committee (TNCC) president.

Senior Congress leader and incumbent TNCC president, K.S. Alagiri will be stepping down soon and discussions for his replacement are rife among the Congress circles in Chennai and New Delhi.

Sasikanth, who was Deputy Commissioner in Dakshina Kannada, had earned respect for crushing the communal riots in the area as also putting an end to the menace of sand mafia by taking strong measures.

He was one of the four 'S' -- Siddaramiah, D.K. Shivakumar, election strategist Sunil Konagolu, and himself, who led the Karnataka Congress to victory.

He quit the civil services in 2020 after expressing discontent with the BJP government at the Centre as well as in Karnataka. Senthil was the brain behind the 40 per cent commission charges levelled against the Karnataka BJP government. He was also behind the highly successful campaign, 'PayCM' with a photograph of the then Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai that embarrassed the BJP in Karnataka and instantly connected with the people of the state.

Tamil Nadu Congress, which is in for a revamp, is looking forward to put Sasikanth Senthil in a responsible position in the state Congress. Several senior leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal are supportive of Sasikanth Senthil to be the TNCC president.

However, the caste equation and other social factors are being taken into consideration before a final decision is taken. Several senior Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu have been camping in New Delhi to meet K.C. Venugopal for a plum party position.

The state Congress has four working president posts and with the change of guard at the TNCC, the four working presidents will also be removed. Sources in the Congress told IANS that if by any chance Sasikanth Senthil could not be anointed as the TNCC president, the party will post him as a single working president in TNCC.

With K. Annamalai, an IPS officer-turned-politician making waves in Tamil Nadu for the BJP as its state president, the Congress party is seriously contemplating to post Sashikant Senthil as the next Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president for a healthy competition at the grassroots level.