Factionalism in TNCC to the fore

Chennai, Feb 13 (PTI) Factionalism in the Tamil Naduunit of the Congress came to the fore today when two partyMLAs staged a walkout from the TNCC meeting held here to firmup its strategy for the assembly elections due in May.

Party sources said R M Palaniswami and Rani Venkatesanwalked out demanding that senior party leader E V K SElangovan, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader S RBalasubramaniam and MLA D Yasoda be included in the party''spanel to discuss seat-sharing with ruling DMK.

The Congress had recently named a five-member panel,comprising union ministers P Chidambaram and G K Vasan, partyspokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan, TNCC president KV Thangkabaluand AICC secretary Jayakumar.