Chennai: M K Stalin was on Tuesday elected the new president of the DMK unopposed, assuming the reins of Tamil Nadu's main Opposition party, which his father — the late M Karunanidhi — had controlled for nearly half century, disregarding whimpers of protest by his elder brother M K Alagiri. The elevation of Stalin, the DMK working president whom Karunanidhi had anointed his successor during his lifetime after he began keeping indifferent health, was announced at a meeting of the DMK's General Council by party General Secretary K Anbazhagan.
His was the only nomination for the top party position, Anbazhagan said, as DMK leaders and workers greeted the announcement of the elevation of "Thalapathy" with loud cheers. A week after Karunanidhi's death on August 7, Alagiri, a former union minister who was expelled from the DMK by his father in 2014 at the height of his fight for supremacy with Stalin, had hinted at a succession war with the younger sibling, claiming "real" partymen were with him.
On Monday he had warned of "consequences" for the DMK if he was not taken back and said "Kalaingar (Karunanidhi) is not there now. The party has to be saved and protected". Alagiri, who has pockets of influence in the Madurai region, has planned a rally of his supporters here on September 5, in an apparent show of strength.
In his maiden address to the DMK General Council after his election, Stalin asked the party cadre to teach the BJP-led NDA government a lesson, accusing it of trying to polarise the country.
"The Narendra Modi government is trying to paint the nation in the colour saffron (a symbol of Hindutva). Let's teach it a lesson," he said.