Kalai, aka ‘Anbagam’ Kalai, an associate of Stalin since the early youth wing days, was on Wednesday appointed DMK deputy organising secretary as per rule 18 and 19 of the party by law. An announcement made by DMK general secretary Duraimurugan in party organ ‘Murasoli’ confirmed the appointment, which was widely perceived in the party circles as an attempt to minimize the workload of Rajya Sabha MP cum organising secretary RS Bharathi.

Bharathi, the go to guy for DMK district-level functionaries to settle inner-party differences, is understood to be asked to scrutinise the ‘performance’ of AIADMK ministers in Palaniswami led regime. The Rajya Sabha MP had moved the court against a few AIADMK ministers in the previous regime in connection with alleged scams. A DMK source unwilling to be quoted said, “Kalai was the chief organiser of all functions Stalin attended. Be it rallies or tours, Kalai would inspect the place ahead of district secretaries.

Now, the state police and a dedicated team of officers are doing it for the CM. His interaction with district functionaries would increase as deputy organising secretary as one of his main jobs would be resolving inner-party disputes.” A state-level DMK functionary said, before adding that the appointment would also minimise the powers of Bharathi who was not liked by all district functionaries of late. “At the outset, it might sound like a post subordinate to Bharathi. But, it will definitely reduce the powers of the organising secretary. District bosses would reach out to the president through the deputy organising secretary easily now,” said a district secretary unwilling to be quoted.