Chennai: A day after his party rallied behind him, urging him to take over the DMK reins after the death of its president M Karunanidhi, M K Stalin asserted that he was in charge. “Our party leader has left us and with the guidance I got from him, I have taken charge of the party with courage. The reason for this courage is the definitive hope that the cadres will be by my side,” said the DMK working president in a letter to cadres. The letter comes a day after the party’s executive committee met in Chennai and passed a resolution condoling the death of Karunanidhi.
Alagiri goes after Stalin
Days after Karunanidhi’s death, his estranged son M K Alagiri has claimed that all loyal party workers are with him. Karunanidhi had expelled Alagiri and his supporters from the party in 2014 at the height of his fight with Stalin over establishing supremacy in the party.
Alagiri, a former union minister, while paying tributes to his grave on the Marina Beach went after Stalin and accused him of blocking his return into the DMK. “All the true and loyal supporters of Thalaivar, Kalaignar are with me, they are supporting me-...time will provide the answer,” Alagiri, who has been leading a life away from the media glare in Madurai since his expulsion, told reporters.
Later, speaking to a news channel, Alagiri said, “Even if I am inclined to rejoin the party, they (Stalin and his supporters) are not in a mood to let me in.” “The DMK will dig its own grave if it does not take me back,” he said, adding nobody from the Karunanidhi family was interested in talking to him to facilitate a reunion.
The Karunanidhi family had presented a united face when the DMK stalwart was fighting for life at a city hospital. Alagiri was present at the hospital and was seen at his father’s funeral. However, close watchers of Tamil Nadu politics expected him to flex his political muscle once Karunanidhi was gone. The former union minister wields considerable influence in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. He was the party’s secretary for these districts before his expulsion.
