<P> In response to a nationwide protest of the British salt tax, Mahatma Gandhi decided to initiate a march to Dandi--then a small village in the Bombay Presidency--on the western coast of India . When Gandhi's choice of salt was not welcomed by his peers, C. Rajagopalachari ably supported the idea and took part in the Salt March, which was organised on 12 March 1930 . </P> <P> A month later, Rajagopalachari was unanimously elected as the president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) at the conference held in Vellore . T.S.S. Rajan was elected as the secretary, while Panthulu Iyer, Swaminatha Chetty, Lakshmipathi, A. Vaidyanatha Iyer and N.S. Varathachariyar were among the prominent members of the committee . In the meanwhile, the party headquarters was shifted from Madras to Trichinopoly . A month later, Rajagopalachari intended to initiate a protest--on the lines of Dandi March--on the eastern coast to make salt at Vedaranyam, Tanjore District, Madras Presidency . Rajaji initially thought of choosing Kanyakumari, the point where the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean confluence with each other . Since the TNCC had decided not to conduct Satyagraha in non-native states, Kanyakumari, which was then a part of the princely state of Travancore, was ruled out . Vedaratnam Pillai, an active congressman and a resident of Vedaranyam, convinced Rajaji that his hometown be the preferred destination . Rajaji agreed with his idea as there were "convenient" salt marshes at the Agasthiampalli salt factory, which was located near Vedaranyam . Further, Pillai was also a licensee of the salt factory and had knowledge about the manufacturing of salt . Further, Rajaji was influenced by the location of the town; it was a part of the Tanjore District, which was a Congress stronghold . </P> <P> As soon as the venue was finalised, Rajaji made further preparations for the march . A Government record pointed out that he was very much concerned about modeling the march on the lines of Gandhi's Dandi March . He estimated that a minimum sum of ₹ 20,000 was needed to organise the rally . He successfully managed to collect the funds with the help of Sourashtras of Madurai and South Indians in Bombay and Ahmedabad . Rajaji had formulated an advance guard that consisted of T.S.S. Rajan, G. Ramachandran and Thiruvannamalai N. Annamalai Pillai . Even before the march took off, the guard traveled along the proposed route and met the villagers to ensure support from them . Rajan was in charge of fixing the halt points for the march and took care of food and accommodation at each stage . The promulgation of section 157 of the Indian Penal Code made it a difficult task for Rajan . J.A. Thorne, the district collector of Tanjore, issued a warning that those who provide food and accommodation to the marchers shall be punished . He tried his best by widely publicising his order throughout his jurisdiction . </P> <P> The committee had received nearly 1000 applications for participating in the march . After scrutinising the applications, Rajaji selected a team of ninety - eight volunteers, most of them being young clerks, students and graduates . Out of the first batch, twenty - four were from Madurai, fifteen from Tirunelveli, twelve from Ramanathapuram, eleven from Madras, nine from Tiruchengodu, nine from Bombay, seven from Tanjore, five from Trichinopoly, four from Coimbatore and one each from North Arcot and Srirangam . Other prominent members included, Rukmini Lakshmipathi, K. Kamaraj, Aranthangi C. Krishnaswamy, M. Bhaktavatsalam and Rajaji's son, C.R. Narasimhan . In addition, social activists like A. Vaidyanatha Iyer and G. Ramachandran joined the rally . </P>

March on tanjore coast to break the salt law in april 1930