Electoral politics in Tamilnadu is extremely muddled. The DMK which is the major opposition party is on a sticky wicket. The campaign for the DMK’s elections has exposed fissures in the party. DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s son, Alagiri told the press that his father’s party did not know how to use his own political skills. He will keep out of the coming elections. Earlier the old patriarch, Karunanidhi said that he would head the government if the DMK was voted power. His son and heir, M.K. Stalin will have to wait his turn. Stalin is 63 and the architect of the DMK campaign. He may not be very happy with the wait for the leadership. The DMK was born of a mass movement to bolster the ideology of social justice. The party however became divided in the nineties over the succession question. Stalin was rising to the top. His elder brother Alagiri was sent to Madurai to prevent a fight between brothers.
Stalin held his own in the bastion of Chennai. He became Mayor of the city and held ministerial positions in the cabinet. The territories of the two brothers were carved out for three decades and Alagiri remained the supremo in the south. But his muscle power proved counter-productive a number of times. M Karunanidhi is the only chief who can put his party together and steer it along the right lines but he should realize that he is getting on in years with several terms as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In any case the DMK is fighting a losing battle with Jayalalitha’s AIDMK in spite of all the crises which she has gone through.
