In a major jolt to the Congress Party, senior leader and former Union Minister G.K.Vasan today quit the party. Talking to the media persons in Chennai, Mr.Vasan said that he will float a new party in a day or two.

Mr. Vasan said that he is not satisfied with the functioning of the party at the regional level. Mr.Vasan said that the Congress Party had taken a unilateral decision without consulting regional leaders on the issue of printing membership cards. He had objected to decisions taken at the highest level without the knowledge of the regional leadership.

Those who stood with Mr. Vasan on Monday included two sitting MLAs, N.R. Rengarajan and John Jacod; former MPs Mr. Alphonse, Mr. Gnanadesikan, S.R Balasubramanian, N.S.V Chitthan; former MLAs Gnanasekaran, Kovai Thangam and Vidiyal Sekar; and former Tiruchi Mayor Charubala Thondaiman.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi recently accepted the resignation of B.S. Gnanadesikan as TNCC president and replaced him with Mr. Vasan’s long-time rival and former Union Minister, E.V.K.S. Elangovan.

It is to be noted that Mr.Vasan’s father G.K.Moopanar had launched the Tamil Maanila Congress after the death of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi objecting to the decision on political alliance taken by former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.