Muthuvel Karunanidhi Alagiri, the estranged son of late Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M Karunanidhi revolted against the party at his father’s grave at Anna Memorial in Chennai on Monday.
Addressing reporters just a day before the DMK’s Executive Committee meeting, 67-year-old Alagiri drove a crack in the already fractured political landscape of Tamil Nadu with his announcement that he is the right person to head the party.
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Triggering a succession war, Alagiri accused his brother, working president MK Stalin, of “not working” for the welfare of the party.
Expressing his disappointment at the manner in which DMK is being run, the former Union Minister said that all “true relatives” of his father are on his side.
“My father’s true relatives are all are on my side. All the supporters in Tamil Nadu are on my side and are encouraging me alone. Only time will give the answers…that is all I am willing to say now,” Alagiri told reporters after paying tributes at his father’s grave, who passed away on 7 August aged 94.
He said his anguish was about the party and not about the family and the public would come to know the whole story at the appropriate time.
Both Alagiri and his younger brother Stalin are Karunanidhi’s sons from his second wife Dayalu Ammal.
Alagiri was expelled by Karunanidhi in 2014 following his protest against Stalin’s elevation and criticising other leaders of the party.
A politician with strong roots in Madurai and southern districts of Tamil Nadu, Alagiri returned to make headlines with his presence at his father’s side at Kauvery Hospital and, later, during the funeral ceremony.
Stalin has been heading the DMK as its working president since January 2017. He is likely to be named chief of the party in the meeting tomorrow.
Reports say that DMK has dismissed Alagiri’s statement calling it the remarks of a “frustrated” man.
