At a DMK general council meeting held in party headquarters here, party general secretary K Anbazhagan declared the election of Stalin as its president and Duraimurugan as its treasurer.
Anbazhagan said 1,307 nominations had been filed on behalf of Stalin. “Since no one else contested against Stalin, he is the new president of the DMK,” he said.
General council members welcomed the announcement with resounding applause while hundreds of party workers who assembled outside the headquarters raised slogans and burst crackers.
The immediate challenge for Stalin is to ward off any rebellion by sacked leader and his elder brother M K Alagiri, who claims that many Karunanidhi loyalists are with him. Stalin will also have to take his party through two by-elections in the state -- Tiruparankundram and Tiruvarur. (If the Madras high court upholds the dismissal of 18 rebel AIADMK MLAs, the state will see 20 byelections). Victory in these byelections will boost Stalin's image.
Before coming to the party headquarters Stalin visited Karunandhi's Gopalapuram residence and received blessings of his mother Dayalu Ammal. He offered floral tributes to his father’s portrait. Earlier, he visited DMK MLA Anbil Mahesh’s residence in T Nagar on the occasion of the 19th death anniversary the latter’s father and former legislator Anbil Poyyamozhi.
Stalin had been party’s youth wing secretary, party deputy general secretary, treasurer and working present before being elected as president. Stalin had been Chennai mayor from 1996 till 2001. He was the minister for rural development and local administration in his father’s cabinet after the 2006 assembly elections. In May 2009, he was appointed the deputy chief minister. Stalin, a six-term MLA, now represents Kolathur constituency in the assembly.
Stalin was arrested during emergency under Maintenance of Internal Security Act. He was under the shadow of his mentor and father Karunanidhi till 2016 when Karunanidhi fell ill.
General Council passes resolutions
The general council passed several resolutions. The first resolution condoled the death Karunanidhi. It said, "With his foresight and thoughts, Karunandhi had led this organisation for several decades. He will continue to guide the DMK as a lighthouse.”
Other condolence resolutions were for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee, former Tamil Nadu governors Surjit Singh Barnala and S S Barnala and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
It passed resolutions condoling the deaths of 248 party members who died of shock after hearing about the demise of Karunandhi, 13 people who died in police firing in Tuticorin and deaths of people due to floods in Kerala. It also condoled deaths of party office-bearers at various levels and their family members.
Another resolution sought Bharat Ratna for Karunandhi.
from Times of India https://ift.tt/2ohWeEO
