DMK family politics came to the fore once again after former union minister and estranged son of DMK patriarch, MK Alagiri, called on his father at his Gopalapuram residence on Thursday morning, setting off speculations if he was about to be allowed entry into the party.

The development, in the works for the past few days as reports in a section of the media suggested, came a day after Captain Vijayakant floated a third front comprising his party DMDK, Left and Vaiko that will surely hit the chances of Karunanidhi in his efforts to become the chief minister again, at the ripe old age of 92.

DMK circles were agog with speculation if Alagiri, the southern districts strongman of the party till he was booted out for anti-party activities, would be admitted to the party fold again on the eve of assembly elections. Analysts expect Algiri could hit the chances of DMK candidates in closely contested seats and few party men think that neutralizing him would be an option that the leadership should consider.

However, such an option was scotched within minutes of the meeting when his younger brother MK Stalin dismissed it as a purely personal meeting, a son meeting his father and nothing more should be read into the courtesy call. Stalin urged the media not to politicize it.

“Ghulam Nabi Azad is coming to Chennai tomorrow to meet our leaders and the details of the alliance will be finalised soon,” Stalin said.

Alagri too has maintained that his visit to his father was just a personal meeting, between a father and a son. His position was clarified in a tweet by Alagiri’s son” “went to make amends with my FATHER … With absolutely no agenda to it … Father being the operative word here…” – MK Alagiri”

Incidentally, Alagiri had dismissed the DMK’s chances in the 2014 general elections saying that the way tickets were sold off, it would be great if the party could win even two of the 38 seats. Eventually, the DMK drew a blank in general elections to Lok Sabha.

Soon after, Alagiri was ousted from the party on disciplinary grounds by the leadership that held him guilty of anti-party activities. All his supporters were shown the door and removed from office bearer positions in southern districts.