Govindaswami Karuppiah Moopanar, the leader of the Tamil Manila Congress, died yesterday after a prolonged illness, at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College where he was admitted on August 1. He was 71.

His body was taken to his residence in Mylapore and then kept for the public to pay homage to him at the Kamaraj auditorium. Many dignitaries including Acting Tamil Nadu governor C Rangarajan, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, DMK chief and former TN Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, several party leaders including Vaiko, senior members of the TMC, Congress President Sonia Gandhi paid their respects to the departed leader.

P Chidambaram, former Union Finance Minister and one of Moopanar's acolytes – who broke with him last April, bade a tearful farewell to his one time mentor.

Moopanar came from a wealthy family of Kapisthalam in Tanjore district. He was once closely associated with Kamaraj, a father figure of Tamil Nadu politics.

He merged the old Congress with the Indira Gandhi's Congress in 1975. He donned the Congress mantle and was President of the Tamil Nadu Congress in the late 70s.

Indira Gandhi appointed him as one of the party general secretaries in 1980 and held that post for the following eight years.

Rajiv Gandhi then made him the leader of the Tamil Nadu Congress.

When, in 1996, the Narasimha Rao-led Congress decided to contest elections in alliance with Jayalalithaa's AIADMK, Moopanar walked out, formed the Tamil Manila Congress and fought the elections in alliance with Karunanidhi's DMK.

In the days following the fall of the Deve Gowda's United Front government Moopanar almost became prime minister of India. But that was not to be. When Jayalalithaa's government withdrew support to the BJP government and the DMK joined the NDA, Moopanar parted company with the DMK and fought the 1999 Lok Sabha elections with a few small parties and came a cropper.

In the last Assembly poll in April this year, Moopanar decided to team up with Jayalalithaa's AIADMK.

The party secured 23 constituencies. But in the process his right hand man P Chidambaram broke with him and formed a ginger group of his own and allied with the DMK.

After Moopanar what? Will the TMC break up? Sonia Gandhi had handed over the task of negotiations with Jayalalithaa on the issue of seat sharing and choice of constituencies for the Congress to Moopanar.

Sonia is interested in getting the TMC to merge with the Congress, for what it is worth. By itself the TMC is a light weight, more so, now that Moopanar is not heading the party.

Without one of the 'Dravidian' parties, the TMC will be hard put to win any seats in elections in the country. And, minus Moopanar, the TMC will be a disappearing political species.

The leadership of the party is in a shambles. During the last month and more, when Moopanar's health was steadily deteriorating and he was having trouble speaking, bitter inner party struggles were going on in the party. It was difficult for Moopanar to campaign in the last elections.

He broke his hip bone and had to undergo surgery. At 71, it was a difficult task to hold the TMC together. He was admitted to the SRMC hospital on August 1 for lung infection and pneumonia.
During the last week he was on life support systems. The end came early morning yesterday. His body is being kept for public viewing at the Kamaraj Hall in Chennai. The cremation will take place at 4pm today.

For Jayalalithaa, the passing of Moopanar will be a blow, coming after the departure of the PMK from the alliance recently.

The local bodies elections are slated for October and it will be a difficult task for the AIADMK. By themselves, without the TMC and the Congress rump in the State and without the support of the PMK, the AIADMK will be in trouble if elections are held now.