Ambitious DMK youth wing Secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin has defied the diktats of his father and DMK president MK Stalin and set up his publicity team for 2021. The forty-plus DMK youth wing head is understood to have roped in a senior journalist of a Tamil magazine to design his political strategies for next year’s Assembly election.
Udhayanidhi distributing relief materials to a woman in Chennai
Chennai:
Stalin junior is also understood to have advised Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC to not bother about his publicity. DMK sources in the know revealed that the youth wing secretary, who was told to stay low by Stalin recently after complaints poured in about the overreach of the coterie around him irritating party seniors, had formed his exclusive PR team to increase his popularity quotient before next year. A party senior disclosed that Udhayanidhi’s team had even approached a couple of them close to the party to manage his brand-building before settling for the former journalist of the reputed Tamil weekly magazine. A son of a resourceful party MLA in the city had held talks on behalf of his ‘friend’ Udhayanidhi for the PR job. The decision to put an exclusive PR team in place was prompted by the suggestion of I-PAC that promotion of youth wing secretary now would revive debates about nepotism ahead of the Assembly polls.
“Prashant Kishor had advised the junior to stay low till the next year’s Assembly election. Stalin had also accepted the poll analyst’s suggestion and asked the son to act accordingly. But, the junior is adamant. He is eyeing Thousand Lights or Saidapet. He wants to promote himself. He has asked PK to not bother about his publicity. Now, he has formed his PR team,” said a party senior leader.