CHENNAI, Sept. 1 -- The top brass of the Tamil Nadu Congress, including state president B Manickam Tagore and MP Praveen Chakravarthy, met chief minister C Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat in Chennai on Monday.

The meeting assumes significance amid a row in the southern state following remarks by Congress minister S Rajesh Kumar that he and his colleague P Viswanathan would resign as ministers if the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) did not support Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2029 elections.

The Congress, which won five seats under the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, snapped ties with the DMK and formed an alliance with TVK after the April 23 Assembly elections were announced on May ...