Faced with the task of winning 118 seats to become the Chief Minister for a record sixth time, Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the DMK patriarch has pressed the panic button. Karunanidhi (93) is believed to have sought the services of MK Alagiri, his Madurai-based estranged elder son by second wife Dayalu Ammal.
Alagiri’s ouster from the DMK in January 2014 following his disagreement with Karunanidhi over the “succession war” is described as a factor that led to the total debacle of the party in the subsequent lok Sabha election. Besides Karunanidhi, Selvi, his daughter and her husband Selvam (younger brother of late Murasoli Maran) are also trying to pacify Alagiri, who wields tremendous clout in the southern districts.
By March 2016 Tamil Nadu and the country will see a rare spectacle of a 93-year-old Karunanidhi leading his party in its quest to win the Assembly election. This election is crucial for Karunanidhi and the DMK because this could be the party chief’s swan song. The 2016 election is his last opportunity to stage a comeback and salvage his party which has been subjected to successive defeats since 2011.
The year 2014 saw people of Tamil Nadu handing over the worst defeat to the DMK in its electoral history. Not a single DMK candidate could win from the State in the lok Sabha election. If the AIADMK wins the 2016 Assembly election, it will put an end to Karunanidhi’s dreams of getting political immortality in the Dravidian heartland.
The DMK chief wants Marina Beach as his final resting place. Since C N Annadurai, the DMK founder and M G Ramachandran, the founder of AIADMK and the former Chief Minister are interred at the Marina Beach and have beautiful memorials which are important land marks in Chennai (Anna Memorial and MGR Memorial), it is natural for Karunanidhi to aspire for such a memorial. That could materialise only if the DMK comes to power in this Assembly election.
The pre-election gimmicks by the DMK including the We for Ourselves tour undertaken by M K Stalin, Karunanidhi’s son and chosen heir failed to evoke any positive response from the voters. Though Stalin took extra care in his wardrobe and costumes throughout the journey by appearing in designer shirts and trousers, the electorate were not amused. Stalin (63) is the oldest Chief Ministerial candidate in Tamil Nadu’s history.
When K Kamaraj, the Congress leader was sworn in as Chief Minister in 1954, he was 51. Annadurai was 62 when he became Chief Minister in 1967. Karunanidhi, Stalin’s father, was appointed to the top post in the State at the age of 47. M G Ramachandran was 60 when he became the chief minister. J Jayalalithaa was just 43 when she swept the poll in 1991 to become the youngest chief minister of the State. The fact is that Amma at the age of 67 continues to be the undisputed leader of her party, the AIADMK.
Stalin is yet to get acceptability among the people in Tamil Nadu as a person worth leading the State. His communication skill is no match for the articulation of Jayalalithaa. This has made Karunanidhi to press the panic button to send out a message to Alagiri. “Alagiri loves his father. He wants to see Karunanidhi as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu” said V Murugan, former IAS official who is a friend of the DMK’s first family. He also pointed out that the estranged Alagiri has not spoken anything against Karunanidhi or the DMK even after he was ousted from the party.