The shocking allegations from a Tamil Nadu Congress leader have put the grand old party into trouble as she has risen up against the Tamil Nadu Congress Chief by accusing him of putting money first while choosing the candidates and constituencies. The allegations have come when the state is weeks ahead of the assembly polls and a day after the party has announced its final list of candidates for the 25 constituencies that were allotted by the DMK. 

On Thursday, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) President KS Alagiri has unveiled the list of the Congress candidates. He has now been caught up under the allegations as state Congress leader ASP Jansirani had accused Alagiri of rejecting her a ticket to contest in the polls under the grounds of money. Jansirani is the granddaughter of the late Congress leader and seven-time MLA AS Ponnammal. 

In 2016, Jansirani was appointed as the Chief of Tamil Nadu Mahila Congress, the women's wing of the party and she was expecting the party ticket to contest in the assembly polls from Nilakottai, Dindigul. However, the Congress party had lost the seat in the alliance talks as the DMK had allotted Nilakottai to Makkal Viduthalai Katchi, which will be contesting under the rising sun symbol. Knowing that Nilakottai isn't on the list of constituencies, she accused Alagiri of not demanding DMK to allot Nilakottai for the party. 

Taking to Twitter, she slammed the state president and said he is choosing constituencies based on the money power of candidates and not based on the work done by the party workers on the ground. Speaking to a news agency, ASP Jansirani said that she had requested the party to award a ticket in Nilakottai in the 2016 polls. However, she failed to get a ticket. Despite the failure, she says that she has worked for this constituency for more than five years, and KS Alagiri had also assured her a ticket this time in the 2021 polls and asked her to continue her work. 

However, she again got a denial from the party following which she had leveled shocking allegations that the party is picking the constituencies based on the money power of the candidates. She added that she has a problem not in denying seat for her but keeping money in front of the eligibilities in choosing the candidates and she demanded the party leadership to provide the seat for those who work for the party and she added that due to her work in Nilakottai, Congress would have won this constituency had it been demanded and bought the seat from the DMK. 

According to our sources, Jansirani had also written to the Congress leadership in which she said, "Rahul Gandhi is expecting to work by putting the party's interest first and he is working for that. But, by accepting to leave Nilakottai, where the party has a bright prospect to win, Tamil Nadu Congress Chief is working to push the great movement of Congress into the abyss. His (Alagiri) fashion of leaving the winnable seat has disappointed people like me who have come to work for the people". 

"I think I will be betraying the people of Nilakottai if I remain silent on this. So I have decided to meet the people of Nilakottai and I will be deciding my next course of action in two days. I will work for the interest of the people of Nilakottai till my last breath", she added and her allegations have shocked the party as they have come when Rahul Gandhi aims to emerge victorious in Tamil Nadu. She further said that no Congress leader in Tamil Nadu is deserved to get the deposit in the upcoming polls.

Jansirani is the granddaughter of AS Ponnammal, a late Congress leader and seven-time MLA. Ponnammal was elected from Nilakottai four times - twice as a Congress candidate, once as an independent, and once on a Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) ticket. Ponnammal was also elected from the Sholavandan constituency twice and from the Palani constituency once. Ponnammal was active from 1957 to 1996 and she passed away in 2015 at the age of 88 and after her demise, her granddaughter Jansirani had come to the front in 2016.