After 49 years, DMK to get a new chief today

Tuesday will see the DMK getting a new president after 49 years. This is the first change of guard in the Dravidian major since M Karunanidhi was elected as the party chief in 1969, a post which he held till he breathed his last on August 7. As MK Stalin, his second son, gets elevated as the party president, political commentators in Tamil Nadu term it as  ‘son rise’ in the DMK,  with the party’s electoral symbol being the ‘sun rise’.

Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters in Chennai’s Mount Road, is getting spruced up all over to welcome the new incumbent. Hundreds of party workers from all over the State have gathered in Chennai to be part of the festivities of the coronation of Stalin.

But the question is how the new president is going to handle the discontentment which is brewing in the party. With Stalin taking over the mantle of the party reins, many senior leaders who rose from the cadre are believed to be upset over the truth that only the members of the Karunanidhi clan could rise in the party hierarchy, unlike in the AIADMK, its main enemy in Tamil Nadu politics. But nobody is willing to come out in the open for fear of repercussions.

The words of K Thirunavukkarassar, a historian of the DMK movement, is the answer to the question why there was no challenge to the leadership of Karunanidhi in the last 49 years. “This does not mean that there is paucity of leaders in the DMK. There were and are equally charismatic and talented leaders. But they could not shine since they were not elected to the party president’s post,” he said when asked about the 49-year long reign of Karunanidhi as party chief.

Film actress Khushboo, spokesperson of the Congress party, was the last victim of the power play in the DMK. She was a young prodigy  groomed by Karunanidhi and  was even rated as the potential DMK face in New Delhi. But she had to quit the DMK after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections for reasons known only to her and the Karunanidhi family, said a party leader.

The first challenge for Stalin is not from AIADMK or the BJP but from his own family. MK Alagiri, his elder brother, is organising a rally at Chennai on September 5 in which more than 50,000 followers of Karunanidhi are expected to participate. Monday morning saw Alagiri posting in his social media page a 1969 picture of Karunanidhi with the message “our permanent Thalaivar”.

Stalin is taking over the control of the DMK at  the most crucial time. The Madras High Court is expected to deliver the order in the petition filed by the 17 AIADMK rebel MLAs seeking the quashing of their disqualification  from the House under the provisions of the anti-defection law.

The directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC)  is probing the allegations of  corruption against CM Edappadi Palaniswamy in awarding contracts  in the Highways Department, a portfolio held by him. The government is surviving on a wafer thin majority. “The DMK has been out of power for the last seven years. Stalin’s hands are full and he has to tread in a political minefield,” said Ramakrishnan Gauthaman, political commentator.