Like his father Karunanidhi and AIADMK rivals MGR and Jayalalithaa, Stalin would like to confine his real political work to Tamil Nadu, and not want to take after the late Congress leader K Kamaraj and take up a national role, even if to create greater political space for son Udhayanidhi, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Udhayanidhi's 'untimely' elevation as deputy CM may be used against the party, for critics to argue that the DMK's 'first family's is not concerned about anything else but their clan's welfare. If packaged and delivered properly, some of the sting may stick at election time, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
In private, questions are being raised about the wisdom of a 'dual-SIM' leadership during the long run-up to the 2026 assembly polls where 'family rule' could become an election issue, reports N Sathiya Moorthy.
The five-member Group of Ministers (GoM) also include Agriculture Minister Sharad Paward, Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Chemical and Fertiliser Minister M K Azhagiri, official sources said.
Krishnakumar Padmanabhan finds out more about Azhagiri's meticulous planning, which preceeded his son's nuptials.
Petitions challenging the election of Union Minister M K Azhagiri, leader of Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam Parliamentary party T R Baalu and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Member of Parliament P Kumar have been filed in the Madras High Court, seeking to declare the poll outcome as null and void.
In an apparent bid to put an end to the succession war ignited by his son and Union minister M K Azhagiri, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo M Karunanidhi has said that only the party has the authority to name a leader.
The ongoing 'Cable War' between the Marans-owned Sun Network and M K Azhagiri's Royal Cable Vision took another turn on Thursday, with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi warning of legal action against the Sun Network if it did not share the feeds with the state-owned Arasu Cable TV Corporation.
A week after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi declined to meet his grand nephews, the Maran brothers, a cable TV network backed by Karunanidhi's son M K Azhagiri was launched to counter the SUN TV channel owned by the Maran family.
M K Azhagiri, son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Thursday was acquitted along with 12 others by a sessions court in a case relating to the murder of a former Dravida Munnetra Kazgham minister for want of reliable evidence. Sessions Judge P Durga Prasad in a brief verdict observed that there was no reliable evidence to connect the accused with the murder of former minister T Kiruttinan. The judge said the detailed judgment would be pronounced on Friday.
The judges, however, refused to issue notice to the Union home secretary, the first respondent, and Azhagiri, the eighth respondent in the PIL.
Members of the chief minister's family, including his elder son M K Azhagiri in the eye of a political storm following the attack on the Dinakaran office at Madurai, were seen in the gallery.
Azhagiri said he was never implicated in criminal cases as alleged by the network.
Karunanidhi, who has always appeased Azhagiri when elections were around the corner, while pampering and promoting Stalin at all times and costs, will find Azhagiri hard to please this time around.
The survey had given 70 per cent chances to M K Stalin, the second son of Karunanidhi and just 2 per cent to elder son Azhagiri, who controlled the party cadres in Southern districts.
Efforts by the Maran brothers to patch up with their grand uncle and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi appeared to have failed on Tuesday as they went to greet him on his 85th birthday but had to leave without a meeting.Karunanidhi's son M K Azhagiri said Kalanidhi Maran and Dayanidhi Maran "came to meet my father at my sister Kanimozhi's house and greet him on his birthday but my father refused to meet them. After waiting for more than half an hour, they left".
Was it the sheer rise of Maran -- remember, the 41-year-old became a powerful Union minister in the very first opportunity he got -- that has caused the envy within the DMK and resulted in him being sidelined?
The result was also a shot in the arm for Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch M Karunanidhi's elder son and its pointsman in the southern districts, M K Azhagiri, who spearheaded the campaign for Rajendran.
There was no room for dynastic rule in a democratic party like DMK and the family legacy would not be allowed in the party, he said in a statement.
Though another 75 candidates are in the fray, the Elangovan-Thennaruasu fight has become a prestige battle for the DMK and AIADMK, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The EPS camp believes that the BJP was already arm-twisting the AIADMK into conceding more seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections 'than they deserve' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'It's a natural alliance and this alliance has been has been formed without compromising the core ideology of the AIADMK.'
What does Udhayanidhi's induction as minister mean? For the DMK, it indicates the future course, direction and leadership. It is continuity with change, and change with continuity, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu's voters wanted tough leaders at the helm, to the point of being autocratic. It was what Karunanidhi, MGR and Jayalalithaa ended up becoming, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
His likable boy-next-door face and casual approach to public speaking have a unique appeal for the younger generation, but it stops there, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'They have been imposing Hindi on Tamil Nadu,' says DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai.
Stalin's remarks come at a time when Azhagiri has raised a banner of revolt.
''He had given tools to fight all forms of homogenisation.'
Karunanidhi had expelled Azhagiri and his supporters from the party in 2014 at the height of his fight with his younger brother M K Stalin over establishing supremacy in Tamil Nadu's main opposition party.
In Karunanidhi's passing the real loser is Tamil Nadu and Tamil language. So far there is no one on the horizon to fill the vacuum left behind by him, says R Rajagopalan.
'The alliance led by the DMK is starting with 15% votes while the AIADMK is starting from scratch.' 'Minority votes may be crucial'
From Chief Minister EK Palaniswami to Seeman to TTV Dhinakaran to elder brother M K Azhagiri, everyone's favourite target these days seems to the DMK chief Stalin, which is good news in an election year, but that doesn't mean he is going to sweep the polls, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Good intentions and elaborate roadmaps apart, there is an urgent need for the Tamil Nadu chief minister to come up with branded schemes like MGR's meal scheme, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
'There will be significant political traction for him. But how much, we don't know yet'
Stalin owes his victory this time, like in 2019, to the hate-campaign of the local Hindutva forces, which kept haranguing him, and even his dead father, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The front-runner of course is party treasurer and long-serving party legislator, S Duraimurugan. A Vanniar by caste from the rival PMK-strong northern belt, Duraimurugan makes up for his weak political grounding through his debating skills in the assembly, and witty repartee, both inside and outside. Apart from caste and regional representation, personal loyalty to the leader would count even more -- but there is no death of loyal and competent candidates in the party for the post, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Ahead of VK Sasikala's return to Tamil Nadu on February 8, there are some important questions facing her. One, does she carry electoral weight more now than her brainchild AMMK had in the 2019 LS polls? Two, can she retain or build upon the five per cent vote-share from that time? And finally, is there space for Sasikala to retrieve, first within the AIADMK and then across the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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