DMK meet today to take stock of RK Nagar by-election defeat

CHENNAI: Amid rumblings in the party and a calculated attack from ousted leader M K Alagiri, the DMK will hold a high-level committee meeting on Friday to deliberate the defeat it suffered in RK Nagar.
Party working president M K Stalin will preside over the meeting,  scheduled to begin at 5 pm at party headquarters Anna Arivalayam, Teynampet. The principal opposition party in the State had to bear the ignominy of its candidate N Marudhu Ganesh forfeiting his deposit. The agenda for the meeting is fixing responsibility for the dismal performance and initiating action against those who failed to discharge their duties in the constituency.

The meeting assumes significance in the wake of rumblings over the defeat with Alagiri questioning Stalin’s leadership capability to win polls in the absence of an active party chief M Karunanidhi.
Party sources said the axe would fall on local functionaries in RK Nagar for failing to gauge the mood of voters and inform the leadership so that they could have redrawn the poll strategy. Lack of coordination among the partymen entrusted with poll work in the constituency is also cited as a reason that cost the DMK dearly as there was a gap between the local volunteers and those from outside the constituency.

Kanimozhi expected
DMK women’s wing secretary and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi is expected to participate in the meeting. Her supporters expect her to be invited in the wake of her acquittal in the 2G spectrum case, but Stalin has to take a decision in this regard, sources said