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HomePoliticsJust family meeting or clearing the heir? What Udhayanidhi-Alagiri camaraderie could mean...

Just family meeting or clearing the heir? What Udhayanidhi-Alagiri camaraderie could mean for DMK

While Tamil Nadu CM Stalin’s son may be trying to secure his DMK heir apparent position by seeking support within family first, cosying up to Alagiri may not be of much help.

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Chennai: Earlier this week, Tamil Nadu minister and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin visited his uncle, expelled Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader M.K. Alagiri, at the latter’s residence in Madurai. Alagiri and his wife Kanthi stood at the doorstep, welcoming their nephew. Kanthi even planted a peck on Udhayanidhi’s forehead. They exchanged shawls and spent 45 minutes together, and the DMK officially said it was nothing more than a “family meeting”.

The camaraderie on display has raised eyebrows in the corridors of state politics, given how Alagiri had been his brother Stalin’s staunch critic till two years ago. He has also faded from mainstream politics and cosying up to him is unlikely to bring any major political benefits for Udhayanidhi, political observers told ThePrint. 

However, they said, the ties within DMK patriarch Karunanidhi’s family are intact despite political differences between some members. Udhayanidhi’s olive branch to Alagiri may have primarily been to secure his position as the DMK heir apparent within the family before securing his position in the party.

Senior political analyst R K Radhakrishnan said, “Udhayanidhi Stalin is an extremely clever operator who is trying to secure his position within the family. The first thing that anybody needs to do within Karunanidhi’s extended family is to secure their position within. Udhayanidhi wants Alagiri’s support within the family.” 

A source close to the family told ThePrint, “Their ties are intact. Stalin and Alagiri may not be on talking terms with each other but the rest are fine. The family was very unhappy when Alagiri tried to upstage Stalin in 2021 (right before the assembly elections).”

Udhayanidhi, a movie producer-politician who was inducted in his father’s cabinet last month as the sports development and youth welfare minister, told reporters he just wanted to seek his uncle’s blessings. Alagiri returned the affection by saying, “My brother’s son is like my son.”

Meanwhile, DMK’s former MP T.K.S. Elangovan stressed there was nothing political about the meeting. “This was just a family meeting and except a few, most of the family members are on talking terms,” he told ThePrint.


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The sibling rivalry

DMK patriarch Karunanidhi, who had three wives, has four sons and two daughters, of which only Alagiri, Stalin and Kanimozhi have been in active politics. Karunanidhi’s nephew Murasoli Maran, and his son Dayanidhi Maran have also wielded power in the party.  

Stalin’s relations with Kanimozhi have historically been choppy but he has given his half sister prominence within the party since Karunanidhi’s death. Stalin and Alagiri, however, have always had a running political feud.

Party sources close to Stalin said Udhayanidhi’s visit wouldn’t have happened without the CM’s consent. To which, Elangovan said, “He might have been informed but I am not sure.” 

While Karunanidhi’s two sons in politics spent the last decade or so sparring for control, political analysts say that by now, Stalin is firmly in the saddle and neither he nor Udhayanidhi will want to create space for another power centre within the party.

“Stalin has asserted himself completely in the party. He is in control and he has nominated Udhayanidhi as his successor. Alagiri is of no relevance,” political analyst G.C. Shekhar told ThePrint, adding that Alagiri’s style is to be active only when the DMK is in power, and crawl into hibernation otherwise.

Political analyst Radhakrishnan said Udhayanidhi’s visit was perhaps unnecessary at a time when Stalin was firmly in control. “The factionalism in the party may rear its head with this one meeting. The thought that he (Alagiri) can make entry back into the party at any point is a scary thing for the people of Tamil Nadu. The party will be confused now because of what Udhayanidhi has done,” he told ThePrint.

Responding to questions about a possible comeback, Alagiri cryptically told reporters after the meeting, “That you should ask them (the party high command).”

Alagiri’s rise and fall, Stalin’s rise and rise

Alagiri, known as Anja Nenjan meaning braveheart by his supporters, moved base to Madurai in the 1980s to manage Murasoli, the DMK mouthpiece. There, he started gaining popularity in southern Tamil Nadu even though he did not hold any official position in the party. Political commentators say his rising popularity made many senior leaders from the region unhappy about the factionalism in the party that he created.

In 2009, he contested for the first time for the Lok Sabha from Madurai and won. He was even made a cabinet minister in the UPA government between 2009 and 2013.  

In 2014, Alagiri was expelled from the party after openly fighting his brother Stalin and also questioning his father and party patriarch Karunanidhi’s leadership.

Alagiri then kept a low profile till Karunanidhi’s death in 2018. Karunanidhi’s cremation was the last time the two brothers were seen together in public. With their father gone, while Stalin was being projected as the DMK’s face and the next CM candidate, Alagiri did try to make in-roads into the party. He reportedly said he will accept Stalin as the ‘leader’ if he was taken back into the party.

But the then DMK general K. Anbalagan turned down his overtures, saying Karunanidhi had expelled Alagiri, and as a political party, the patriarch’s decision remained. 

In 2021, when the party projected Stalin as the CM candidate and was working for a sweep in the then coming elections, Alagiri had said, “There are always posters calling you (Stalin) future CM but that’s not going to happen. My followers will never let you become the CM.” 

Stalin’s massive victory in the assembly polls that year when the DMK won 133 of the 234 constituencies, however, propelled him as the party’s undisputed leader, prompting even Alagiri to praise his brother.

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)


Also read: ‘Interpretation is erroneous,’ Governor Ravi says he didn’t suggest renaming of Tamil Nadu


 

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