M K Stalin, the 63-year-old son of party president M Karunanidhi, has been anointed as the working president of the DMK with immediate effect by a unanimous resolution adopted by the general council of the party which met at Chennai on Wednesday.
Karunanidhi, the 94-year-old president of the party is ailing and hence he is not in a position to oversee the day-to-day activities of the party. "Stalin, who is working as the treasurer of the party is being promoted as working president to look after the responsibilities of the party president. Though he has been designated as working president, he will have all the powers of the president,” K Anbazhagan, the 95-year-old general secretary of the DMK told the General Council members.
Karunanidhi could not make it to the venue of the General Council because of his ill health. This is the first time in recent history that Karunanidhi had to skip the General Council meeting. The announcement by Anbazhagan was greeted with thunderous applause by the delegates and office bearers of the party.
Stalin, who has been waiting under the wings of papa Karunanidhi for years , broke down while thanking the delegates for the trust and confidence they had put on him. “Whenever I was appointed to important positions in the party, I had accepted it with happiness. But this responsibility does not make me happy as our party chief is not in the best of health. I would have been happy had he been present here with us,” said Stalin.
But Stalin’s future as the de facto leader of the DMK depends on the approach of M K Azhagiri, Karunanidhi’s elder son based in Madurai. Speaking to The Pioneer, Azhagiri said he has not patched up with the DMK leadership as was reported in a section of the media. “I have called on my father who is ailing. That does not mean that I have patched up with the DMK leadership,” said Azhagiri.
Immediately after the acceptance speech, Stalin drove down to the Gopalapuram residence of Karunanidhi and sought his blessings. Karunanidhi has been asked by the team of doctors treating him to stay off public places due to his fragile health and advanced age.
DMK cadre all over the State greeted the promotion of Stalin as the de facto head of the party by bursting crackers and distributing sweets. Durai Murugan, the DMK principal secretary, said the entre cadre was ready to sacrifice their lives for Stalin and the party. “The party is ready to abide by Stalin,” said Murugan.
But internal differences in the DMK will continue to torment the leadership, according to veteran political observers in Tamil Nadu. “If the DMK has to come out of the shadows of defeat to take on the AIADMK, the party leadership should patch up with Azhagiri, ” said Bhanumathi Swaminathan, a Madurai based political commentator. She said Azhagiri is a force to reckon with in southern Tamil Nadu and he commands big following in the region.