Tamil Nadu politics: An heir 'yet to mature', and the succession suspense

With M K Stalin away for three weeks, the politics in Tamil Nadu, already intriguing, is set to become even more interesting

Sometime at the end of August, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (CM) M K Stalin will travel to the US to solicit investment for the state. He will be away for nearly three weeks. Some say this is routine and like other chief ministers, he too is going to rouse the diaspora. But the issue of appointing a man in command when he is away for an extended spell could segue into a choice of a successor. With less than two years to go for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections (scheduled for 2026), the pressure is obvious.

All eyes are on his son Udhayanidhi, currently minister of sport in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government. Other ministers in the government, keen to be counted as the “you heard it first on this channel” voices, are saying Udhayanidhi should be made deputy chief minister. This includes R S Rajakannappan, higher education and backward classes welfare minister, and S Muthusamy, minister for housing and urban development. The latest to add his voice to the campaign is Municipal Administration Minister K N Nehru.

Mr Rajakannappan, who left the DMK to join the AIADMK and eventually returned to the bosom, is anxious to show the bond has been cemented. Earlier this month, at a public function he referred to Udhayanidhi as deputy chief minister, quickly corrected himself, and said people could refer to him thus but after “August 19”. Mr Muthusamy, also from the AIADMK (though he joined the DMK in 2010 when Karunanidhi was still alive), has echoed the view that it should be Mr Udhayanidhi. But Mr Nehru has to be taken seriously. He has been a five-term member of the Legislative Assembly elected from Trichy and has never wandered from the DMK though he has had his share of differences with Mr Stalin, whom he considered a johnny come lately at the time. That he was part of a committee formed in the DMK after the Lok Sabha elections to recommend expansion strategies for the party suggests that has all been forgotten and forgiven. But clearly, he doesn’t want to make the same mistake in judgement when it comes to Udhayanidhi. He too said party cadres were keen to see Udhayanidhi as deputy chief minister and if that happens “we will be happy”, adding that the CM was free to appoint “anyone as deputy chief minister”.

A word about Udhayanidhi. He shot into national fame through his remarks on Sanatana Dharma, which, he said, was singularly responsible for perpetuating the caste system and that he equated with infectious diseases that needed to be eradicated, not just treated. He was hauled up by the Madras High Court as well as the Supreme Court for this but he refused to recant and is fighting court cases all over the country. He was a moderately successful Kollywood star who branched out into running a film production company, Red Giants, and took the plunge into electoral politics in the 2021 Assembly polls. He was elected from the Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni constituency in Chennai.

Mr Stalin, however, seems to have his own doubts about his son’s capacity for gravitas and acceptability. He has said more than once that Udhayanidhi is “not yet ready” for the job, while acknowledging that the demand for his elevation in the party “has risen”. DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi had inducted Stalin into the Cabinet only when Stalin was in his 50s, and then as deputy CM in 2009, when he was 55. Karunanidhi remained at the helm of the party till he died in 2018.

So, if it is not to be Udhayanidhi then who? The bets are on 86-year-old Duraimurugan, currently water resources minister with clearly nothing to worry about: Because even at that age, his hair is jet black. Later in August, he will complete 53 years as an MLA: He represented the Katpadi constituency in 1971, was elected from the same constituency eight times and represented Ranipet constituency twice. There are few in the party who can challenge his seniority or his loyalty.

But don’t write off Udhayanidhi. His seniors might think he needs to mature as a leader. But even leaders from alliance partners like the Congress believe he will be a natural choice for successor in a party where succession battles have turned into extended soap operas. Always interesting, DMK politics is going to get even more absorbing in the days to come.