TNCC chief files caveats on Trust issue

chennai: tamil nadu congress committee (tncc) president e.v.k.s. elangovan on tuesday filed caveats in the madras high court and the city civil court fearing that the tamil maanila congress (tmc) or n.ramasamy udyar, the only surviving member of the original board of trustees of the tncc trust, might move the court for a stay against the nomination of new trustees by congress president sonia gandhi.elangovan has appealed to the courts that nothing on the matter relating to the tncc trust be taken up by the courts without informing him. he has also named udayar as a possible litigant. the trust holds two important properties in the heart of chennai, the satyamurthy bhavan (tmc headquarters) and the congress grounds, that are worth over rs 100 crore. the tmc was caught napping when sonia had announced the appointment of five new trustees on september 2, just three days after g.k. moopanar's death. the trust was under the control of the tmc since 1996. jayanthi natarajan is the only tmc member in the new list of trustees. however, she enjoys a close rapport with the congress leadership. after the death of c. subramaniam and the trust chairman, p.ramachandran, moopanar and udyar, a senior tmc leader, were managing the trust. the tmc functionaries sense an attempt on the part of the congress to force a merger of the two parties using the trust as a form of pressure.