M.K. Alagiri, the estranged DMK leader and son of party president M. Karunanidhi, has said there is an urgent need to revamp the party’s organisation across Tamil Nadu.
Describing the drubbing suffered by the party in the Lok Sabha elections as “unprecedented,” he told The Hindu on Saturday that neither he and his supporters, nor the loyal DMK workers had worked for the party in the polls. Discontent was brewing at different levels, and even senior functionaries were not able to communicate crucial information to Mr. Karunanidhi.
“The cadre recognise ‘Kalaignar’ [Mr. Karunanidhi] as the only leader. One individual is trying to take over the party. There cannot be a one-man-show in the DMK. Nobody is indispensable here… Success is a collective effort and based on meticulous team work,” he said.
The rebel leader, who was recently expelled from the party along with some of his loyalists for indulging in “anti-party activities,” said Mr. Karunanidhi was not consulted or even informed of major decisions, including the selection of candidates.
“Had I been involved in the election process, the results in the southern districts would not have been so bad. As I predicted, DMK candidates have been pushed to the third place in many constituencies. All the party candidates would have lost their deposits, had ‘Kalaignar’ not campaigned for 10 days. If the situation continues in the party, the results of the next Assembly elections will be even worse,” he warned.
‘No action taken’ Mr. Alagiri said there was no indication of issues being resolved. “No action has been taken on the complaints sent by me to the leadership. The voters are not happy with the way the DMK is functioning… We need to change the district secretaries and others who have been appointed to party posts with vested interests.”
Mr. Alagiri's contention is partly borne out by the DMK’s performance in the southern districts, where his writ used to run in party matters as long as he was the DMK’s south zone organising secretary.
For instance, the DMK was pushed to the fourth place in Kanniyakumari, after the Congress and AIADMK candidates, and took the third in Virdhunagar.
Though the DMK polled more than 2.5 lakh votes individually in several southern constituencies, it lost by huge margins to its principal rival, AIADMK. In Tiruchi, the party’s candidate, M Anbazhagan, lost to the AIADMK candidate by over 1.50 lakh votes. In Madurai, the DMK’s Velusamy polled 2,54,361 votes against the AIADMK’s 4,53,785 votes.
In Theni, senior DMK leader Pon. Muthuramalingam secured 2,56,722 votes, but lost to the AIADMK by a huge margin of more than three lakh votes.
In Dindigul, S Gandhi Rajan got 3,66,188 votes, probably the highest a DMK candidate got in the south.
( With additional reporting by D.J. Walter Scott in Ramanathapuram )
