Dravida Munnettra Kazahgam (DMK) patriarch Muthuvel Karunanidhi on Thursday hinted that his younger son, M K Stalin, will be the next party chief, ending a long-standing speculation.
“I will work till my death for the uplift of the Dalit community. After me, it will be Stalin. The answer for who after me is Stalin," said Karunanidhi, while speaking to 2,000 former Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) workers who joined the DMK, in Chennai.
M K Stalin, 59, the son of Karunanidhi and Dayalu Ammal, his second wife, is the treasurer and youth wing leader of the party. When the DMK was in power in the state from 2006 to 2011, Stalin’s elder brother M K Alagiri was not given any ministerial position whereas Stalin was made the deputy chief minister.
The rivalry between the brothers is well-established within the party. Alagiri has refused to accept the decision in the past. Last year, he walked out from a party meeting in Coimbatore showing his displeasure. Three years ago, Alagiri had said that if an election was held for the next president of the DMK, he would contest it.
On numerous occasions, Alagiri has said that he won’t accept any person other than his father, Karunanidhi, as his leader. In 2007, when Tamil daily Dinakaran, owned by the Maran family's Sun Group, published the findings of an opinion poll showing Stalin to be the most popular choice to succeed Karunanidhi, Alagiri's supporters attacked the paper’s office, leaving three people dead.
Meanwhile, political commentators dismissed the announcement as a diversionary tactic by the DMK leader. DMK is one of the key partners of the ruling United Progressive Alliance at the Centre, with 18 members of Parliament.
