Kanimozhi, daughter of DMK chief M Karunanidhi by his third wife Rajathi Ammal, has been appointed as leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha. A letter about her selection has been sent to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari by DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan.
With the appointment of Kanimozhi, one of the accused in the 2G spectrum scam worth Rs 1,74,000 crore and who spent more than 180 days in Tihar jail, party chief Karunanidhi has consolidated his clan’s hold over the party. What has baffled political observers in Tamil Nadu is that the appointment comes at a time when the CBI is contemplating to file a charge sheet against her on charges of money laundering.
“She is junior to the other five DMK members. But the fact that she is the daughter of Karunanidhi has made the difference. This is also a message to other members in the party that the DMK is a private limited company owned by the Karunanidhi family,” said N Murugan, former bureaucrat-turned-commentator.
Back home in Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin is the de facto leader of the DMK legislature party in the Assembly. Though Karunanidhi too is a member of the House, he comes to the Assembly only to sign the attendance register. Stalin (62) is the chief of the DMK youth wing besides being the party treasurer, the number two in party hierarchy.
Karunanidhi’s eldest son MK Alagiri is a member of the lok Sabha from Madurai and was the Union Minister for Fertilisers and Chemicals till March 18 this year. He quit along with other DMK representatives from the Union Council of Ministers following Karunanidhi’s decision to snap ties with the Congress over the indifference of the UPA to the issue of ethnic Tamils in Sri lanka.
But by June, Karunanidhi was back at the doors of the Congress, pleading the party’s support to get Kanimozhi elected as a Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu. Because of the support extended by Congress, Kanimozhi just scrapped through in the June 27 election.
Dayanidhi Maran, former Union Cabinet Minister, who had to quit following the 2G scam, is a grand nephew of Karunanidhi. Even at the time of deciding the DMK nominee for the June 27 Rajya Sabha poll, Kanimozhi got preference over Tiruchi Siva, a senior DMK leader which has upset a large section of the DMK cadre. Though TR Baalu is the leader of the DMK in the lok Sabha, party insiders tell it is Alagiri who calls the shots. “Alagiri is not proficient in English or Hindi and that’s is the only reason why Baalu has been made the leader in the lok Sabha. It is interesting to note that he was not made a Minister in the UPA-2,” said the DMK source.