Azhagiri gambit 'inconsequential'

By M.R. Venkatesh

CHENNAI, FEB. 26. As the DMK today began receiving applications from ticket-aspirants for the coming Assembly polls, a good lot from the districts being on behalf of the party president, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, and the Youth Wing leader, Mr. M.K. Stalin, appears to have reduced the `Azhagiri fight' to shadow-boxing.

The Chief Minister's dissenting son, Mr. M.K. Azhagiri, based in Madurai, is hardly among the ``party favourites'', amidst partymen terming his latest move to contest as an `Independent', as inconsequential to the DMK's support- base.

Though Mr. Azhagiri has become the focus of embarrassment, interaction with a cross-section of partymen who had come to Chennai to file the applications, showed that the former's decision could cause a slide in the DMK's fortunes in at best two to three Assembly segments in the vicinity of Madurai.

``The DMK has been through several trials and tribulations to harden like a diamond, that if any individual thinks he is the party, he is mistaken'', said an old party functionary, reacting to Mr. Azhagiri launching a tirade against the DMK's leadership.

While several partymen termed Mr. Azhagiri's outbursts as stemming from ``personal frustration'', they had expected something worse as the `rebel' in the Karunanidhi family had once even threatened to join the rival Dravidian camp, the AIADMK. That was what his cousin, Mr. M.K. Muthu, had done years back.

Intra-family feud spilling over into the party realm, the slow and steady rise of his younger brother, Mr. M.K. Stalin in the DMK hierarchy, the growing eminence of the Assembly Speaker, Mr. P.T.R. Palanivel Rajan in Madurai, and the lack of a well-defined role for his efforts to strengthen the DMK in the South, are among the reasons cited for Mr. Azhagiri's alienation.

The DMK leadership initiating disciplinary action against Mr. Azhagiri did not arise as he had not renewed his party membership in last year's drive. However, most of the small group of MLAs' around him have backed out and are now with the party leadership, sources say.

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Section  : Southern States
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