Without Karunanidhi’s steadying influence, MK Stalin faces a tough fight to bring DMK back to power

M Karunanidhi’s death leaves a void that will be hard to fill in Tamil Nadu politics and the first to acknowledge that would be his son and successor MK Stalin. At the ripe age of 65, Stalin will finally come into his own. But he faces the onerous task of ensuring that Dravidian politics still holds currency with the masses. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls and 2016 assembly elections, Stalin had led the DMK election campaign. But the presence of AIADMK stalwart, Jayalalithaa, frustrated his efforts on both occasions.

In fact, 2016 was the first instance since MG Ramachandran’s death that an incumbent managed to get re-elected. Yet Stalin stood out in that campaign with an image makeover and a courageous attempt to combat Jayalalithaa’s freebies by appealing to Tamil pride and reviving the discourse on development. Despite the setback, the infighting in AIADMK after Jayalalithaa’s death and the the weaknesses of the EPS-OPS government have kept Stalin in the reckoning.

Unlike AIADMK which appears to be tearing apart under the weight of different power centres, DMK faces no imminent leadership contests. Yet Stalin will have to guard against complacency after TTV Dhinakaran’s stunning victory against both AIADMK and DMK in the RK Nagar bypoll and the political entry of two ageing matinee icons Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. With general elections approaching, Stalin has a tough task deciding on political alliances given the many small parties in the fray apart from Congress and BJP. Though Karunanidhi went 18 years without power in the two decades between 1976 and 1996 and kept DMK afloat, Stalin may not have that luxury. Another defeat could undermine the DMK and create space for new political formations.

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