Karuna remark raises hopes of Stalin supporters

CHENNAI: DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s remark that he is not driven by the desire to become chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the sixth time has created an expectation among supporters of his son M K Stalin that he will be officially named as CM candidate at the party executive committee meeting scheduled on March 5. The decks had been cleared for Stalin’s elevation after the expulsion of his elder brother and former Union minster M K Alagiri from DMK last year for alleged anti-party activities.
Party sources said that a few executive committee members, including former ministers, are expected to raise the demand for an official announcement. “We have been requesting the leadership to announce Stalin as the CM candidate well ahead of the assembly elections like Narendra Modi was made the prime ministerial candidate a year before the Lok Sabha polls. Such an announcement would energize the cadres,” a former minister told TOI. He pointed out that PMK had declared its youth wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss as the CM candidate.
The recent bonding between Stalin and his half-sister and party MP Kanimozhi is also likely to play a significant role in the official announcement, party leaders said. “Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) is happy to know that there has been a better understanding between Stalin and Kanimozhi in recent months,” a former MP said.
Kanimozhi, recently promoted as the party’s women’s wing leader, organized an event to celebrate Stalin’s birthday and lauded his call to cadres that each of them should on the education of an underprivileged girl child in their neighborhoods. Kanimozhi also described Stalin as the other face and leader of the Dravidian movement. “We should take pledge to fulfill the expectations of Annan Thalapathi,” she told the cadres. Stalin is addressed as thalapathi (commander) by partymen. Stain has agreed to participate in an event organized by her in Coimbatore on International Women’s Day.
On Sunday, the party celebrated Stalin’s 62nd birthday as ‘Youth Awakening Day’ and a string of events were held statewide. DMK's effort to connect with the youth who form a sizable chunk of electorate is evident and in recent times Stalin has been active on Twitter and Facebook. Stalin urged the youth to dedicate themselves to the cause of “zero discrimination”, synchronizing with the UN Zero Discrimination Day which was observed on Sunday. Stalin has been heading DMK’s youth wing for over three decades. The wing is organizing a blood donation drive to collect one lakh units of blood. Stalin and his wife Shantha have donated blood as well. TMC chief G K Vasan, state BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan, Union minister Pon Radhakrishan and celebrities like Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan greeted Stalin over the phone.