Loyal DMK cadre with me: Alagiri

Chennai, August 13

Days after M Karunanidhi’s death, the DMK on Monday appeared headed for a fresh succession war with the party patriarch’s estranged son MK Alagiri claiming all loyal party workers were with him.

Karunanidhi had expelled Alagiri and his supporters from the party in 2014 at the height of his fight with his younger brother M K Stalin over establishing supremacy in Tamil Nadu’s main Opposition party.

Stalin is now the working president of the DMK and looks set to assume its reins. This comes a day ahead of the DMK’s executive committee meeting where a decision may be taken about summoning the party’s general council for putting its seal of approval on Stalin’s elevation.

Alagiri, a former Union Minister, paid tributes to his father at his grave on the Marina Beach and fulminated against Stalin, whom he accused of blocking his return into the DMK and selling party posts.

“All true and loyal supporters of Thalaivar, Kalaignar (The leader and the artiste, sobriquets used for Karunanidhi) are with me, they are supporting me...time will provide the answer,” Alagiri, who has been leading a life away from the media glare in Madurai since his expulsion, told reporters.

Later speaking to a news channel, Alagiri said: “Even if I am inclined to rejoin the party, they (Stalin and his supporters) are not in a mood to let me in.” “The DMK will dig its own grave if it does not take me back,” he said, adding nobody from the Karunanidhi family was interested in talking to him to facilitate a reunion.

The Karunanidhi family had presented a united face when the DMK stalwart was fighting for life at a city hospital. However, close watchers of Tamil Nadu politics expected him to flex his political muscle once Karunanidhi was gone.

When asked why there was opposition to his returning to the DMK fold, he said: “How do I know? You (media) have said I have a good reputation and the cadre likes me....they (Stalin and his backers) have that fear.... there could be a thought that I might become the party chief if I am taken back...that may be the reason.” — PTI