It will be Sasikala versus Stalin as AIADMK and DMK go through leadership changes

Chennai: Interesting times lie ahead for Dravidian politics with both the powerful regional forces – the AIADMK and the DMK – going through leadership changes. The old rivalry will give way to the new between V K Sasikala and M K Stalin, who is likely to be formally elevated to the post of Working President at the DMK’s General Council meeting slated to be held here on Wednesday.

Sources close to Stalin are confident that this time around, Thalapathi, as he is fondly referred to by his admirers, would be made a Working President so that he can take charge of the party, albeit under the overall leadership of his father, M Karunanidhi.

The DMK General Council meeting, the highest policy framing body of the party, was to be held last month but was deferred owing to Karunanidhi’s hospitalisation. He was discharged and reported to be taking rest at home, and Wednesday’s outing at the General Council meeting would be his first public appearance in the last few months.

Though officially the agenda of the meeting, according to an announcement by DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan, was to discuss the DMK’s future activities, the main unstated focus was on elevation of Stalin enabling him to take full control of the party and take it forward.

There are political voices that lament that had Stalin been projected in the 2016 general elections, the DMK could have made it and blocked the re-election of Jayalalithaa given his growing image and popularity among the youth, cutting across political viewpoints.

Stalin himself has dismissed any such suggestions and asserts that Kalaignar was his leader and will continue to be his leader always. But considering Karunanidhi’s advancing age, party leaders also feel that a younger Stalin may be able to give the new AIADMK dispensation a tougher challenge. In AIADMK, change was necessitated by the death of AIADMK General Secretary and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December after a prolonged stay in hospital.

V K Sasikala accepted the reigns of the party after leaders urged her to help and guide the party at this juncture. There is a growing clamour among AIADMK leaders that Sasikala should take over the government as well from Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who is only waiting for a signal to step down.

The DMK General Council is expected to adopt various resolutions, including ones on the prevailing drought situation in Tamil Nadu, the increasing suicide by farmers, holding of Jallikattu and other key issues concerning the State.