 Ever since the Congress party was routed in the 1967 elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, it has had very little say in the state. The party has become an insignificant player to say the least and is left to piggyback on the two Dravidian parties in one election after another over the last five decades. With facts and feuds and infighting becoming an inseparable part of the party organization, a revival is highly unlikely in the near future. The growing number of actions and the reluctance of the central leadership in setting teams right have worsened its plight over the decades. The party leadership seems to be very less worried about its plummeting board share around 15% in 1991 to less than 7% in 2016. The party's performance has been dismal in 2011, 2014 and 2016 with only the 2019 general elections being a phase-saving measure. The Congress has been contesting the assembly pools as part of an alliance led by the Dravidian Mineta Karahan or the All India Dravidian Mineta Karahan since 1971 except 1989. Its dependence on the Dravidian giants have only eroded the party's base in many of its strongholds. Vijay Shankar, the editor of Frontline, speaks in this regard. Congress again, 67 after they lost the elections, one section of Congress was with a stronger section after Congress plated the All India level. The faction led by Kamaraj was very strong. Actually in the Bindical election when MGR formed ADMK, this Congress woe was a major force and later Kamaraj died in 1970 when the emergency was on. So Congress was a strong party. He had a good following even youth. He was a kind of idealistic youth. They were all Kamaraj followers. Later when Janatha Party was formed, when Congress woe also merged into Janatha Party, even then that faction was very strong. It was led by one power, Ramachandra. But what really happened immediately after the emergency, Kamaraj opposed the emergency. He was very regrettably, seems he even shed tears. Karnanthi writes in his biography that Kamaraj was so upset about the emergency. But what really happened to the Congress was Mr Mupanar, GK Mupanar, who was with Kamaraj throughout, he came out and he joined. He said Kamaraj in his last days, which was not true. In his last days he wanted to be with Congress led by Indra Gandhi. So he led a major faction out of this Congress and only one group remained as Janatha Party. Later because they didn't have any prominent leaders. Slowly Janatha Party in Tamil Nadu became very weak. So whatever strength Congress had was what it inherited from what Mupanar took away and Mupanar because of his other skills, in managing the party, in settling party disputes, that kind of thing. He was not a kingmaker. But inside he used to be a very good coordinator like that. Only that on Congress exists. But the biggest Congress problem is they never allowed any, like any other part of India, Congress never allowed any leader to grow in statehood. So I used to say that Congress in Tamil Nadu has an inbuilt opposition. There will be 10 leaders and there are 11 groups. And even recently after this seat sharing exercise, finally seats were finalized in their office. In their office, Satyamurthy Bhavan. Two factions held, it's not a demonstration. One faction went on a fast. One was the hunger strike. The other faction opposed it. They were also on hunger strike. And there were seats. Actually Congress office in Tamil Nadu is known for that. Big fights inside, open fights. So again Congress, the real problem of the Congress, which is the problem in many other areas in Tamil Nadu, there is no one strong leader. There are lots of factions. They never come together. They never see eye to eye. So it's going to be very difficult. And they lost the game long back. They lost the game long back. And DMK and ADMK, what really happened to us, DMK split. Actually what has happened is because of DMK split, Dravidian movement became very strong. Because one faction became the counter-file for DMK. ADMK and DMK, kind of they shared power. So Dravidian dominance continued. Congress was never able to break this at all. Completely unimaginative. And they could not remember. Because again, DMK, ADMK broke away. And MGR was a powerful leader. And that thing was in her to be jailed with us. So there was no space for another front. Congress at least had some 20%, 25% vote at the time of emergency. Now it has come down to maybe less than 10%. So Congress definitely is going to be very difficult. And there is no leadership. And there is no program. Congress overall program. There is no program or alternative program. All over India we face this problem. So Congress can be the only problem is Congress has presents in a lot of villages everywhere from old time. The youngsters are not with Congress most of them. So only problem is organizationally they are present. At the time of election maybe some 3, 4, 5% vote will help in any alliance, in any type contest. That way the relevance remains. And because still it remains an all-day party. So these parties still take Congress help at the time of elections. The Congress party has a lot to prove in Tamil Nadu assembly elections with its diminishing influence reflecting on the number of seats it contests and wins. Rahul Gandhi made multiple visits to the state apparently to increase the bargaining capacity but the party had to contend with 25 seats in the assembly elections. With a waning influence and increasing in fighting the party relies highly on the strength of the alliance parties to win a handy number of seats.