Chennai: The DMK has unveiled a list of district in-charges for next year's Assembly polls, accommodating several former ministers who had lost their regional clout after the bifurcation and trifurcation of the party's district units. However, some of them have not been given charge in their respective home turfs. Former Ministers K.N. Nehru, E.V. Velu, M.R.K. Panneerselvam, I. Periyasami and S.S. Palanimanickam, were among those included by the revamp.
Prominent leaders like Suresh Rajan of Kanyakumari, Muthusamy of Erode, K C Palanisamy of Karur and former Speaker R Avudaiappan of Tirunelveli were ignored. The DMK's district units have gone up to 65 after the shuffle of the organisational structure. In Chennai, where the district unit was divided into four, none of the party district secretaries have been assigned a role in the poll panel. Instead, Alandur R S Bharathi will be in charge. Madurai district, once the fortress of DMK president M Karunanidhi's estranged son M K Alagiri, is now in the hands of former minister Thangam Thennarasu. Virudhunagar district has been left to local strongman K K S S R Ramachandran.
Former Union Minister S.S. Palanimanickam of Thanjavur, who was out of favour with the party high command for a brief period, has been allotted Pudukkottai. The party has also rewarded leaders like S. Austin, T.M. Selvaganapathy, V. Sathyamurthy and Dr. T. Masthan, who defected from the DMDK and the AIADMK.
