A day before the DMK is to hold an ‘urgent’ executive committee meeting to condole the death of its leader M. Karunanidhi, his son and former Union Minister M.K. Alagiri on Monday raised a banner of protest saying his father’s true loyalists were with him.
Mr. Alagiri, once the party’s south zone organiser with his base in Madurai, was expelled from the DMK in 2014 by Karunanidhi for alleged anti-party activities and has always remained at loggerheads with his younger brother and DMK working president M.K. Stalin.
On Monday, he visited his father's memorial on the Marina to pay his respects. He was accompanied by wife Gandhi, daughter Kayalvizhi and son Duraidayanidhi.
“Time will provide an answer”
“I have come here to express my anguish to my father. You will not know what it is about now. The real loyalists of my leader Kalaignar [Karunanidhi] are with me. The loyalists across the State are supporting me. Time will provide an answer,” he told journalists.
To a question, he said his anguish was over the party and had nothing to do with the family. He refused to answer questions on Tuesday’s executive committee meeting, saying he was not in the party.
Mr. Alagiri said he had no idea on whether he would rejoin the party. “I have expressed everything to [the soul of] Kalaignar,” he added.
DMK leaders, including those close to Mr. Stalin, chose not to react to Mr. Alagiri's comments.