For the first time since 1969, the DMK is having second thoughts over fielding party patriarch Muthuvel Karunanidhi as the chief ministerial candidate for the Tamil Nadu Assembly election. During the birth anniversary of party founder CN Annadurai in September 2014, MK Stalin, Karunanidhi's second son by his second wife Dayalu Ammal, had declared that his father would be the chief ministerial candidate of the party for the 2016 Assembly election. Stalin (62) is the treasurer as well as the youth wing secretary of the DMK.
But things have changed a lot in the DMK since September 2014 which made Karunanidhi to announce last week that he has lost the desire to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the sixth time. During a public meeting organised in connection with the 62nd birthday of Stalin at Chennai, Karunanidhi said, "Those who spoke before me said I should become the Chief Minister for the sixth time. But I have no such desire. I only want to keep the DMK together to prevent it from falling prey to the attacks of its enemies".
This is seen by Stalin loyalists as a prelude to his coronation as the party's chief ministerial candidate. "Dr Kalaignar (as Karunanidhi is addressed by his followers) will be 94 by the next Assembly election. He is confined to a wheel chair and may not be able to undertake the grueling election campaign like what he was doing in the past. It is time for him to understand the ground reality and make way for Stalin," a staunch Stalin loyalist and member of the party executive told The Pioneer on Monday.
Stalin, who has been waiting impatiently for the last one decade to be anointed as the party chief, has seized the entire party apparatus during the last six months. Though there are only 32 districts in Tamil Nadu, Stalin got the party leadership bifurcate them into 64 party districts in the name of administrative convenience and appointed his loyalists as district secretaries. So in the eventuality of any differences of opinion, all district secretaries would stand by him.
With MK Alagiri, Karunanidhi's elder son ousted from the party, Stalin is in full command of the DMK . The Vanniyar dominated PMK has fielded Anbumani (47) as the chief ministerial candidate of that party. This too has come in handy for Stalin to make his father see the writing on the wall. Thursday's executive committee meeting to be held at Chennai may see Karunanidhi himself making the declaration about Stalin being the DMK's chief ministerial candidate. But, it is not known whether Karunanidhi was serious about what he spoke on Saturday as he had made number of vault faces in the past and he is known as a master in doublespeak.
But, a veteran political expert who has known Karunanidhi for the last five decades is of the view that the DMK chief is making a strategic move.
"He knows well that the DMK is in a pretty bad shape. If Jayalalithaa comes out clean in the disproportionate asset case, the AIADMK will sweep the 2016 Assembly election. Even otherwise, public sympathy is with Amma. So Karunanidhi does not want to end up as a loser and may hand over the charge to Stalin," said the analyst on condition of anonymity.