Chennai:
After 72 years in public life, DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi may have to shelve his retirement plans. At least till the Assembly elections next year. A bombshell dropped today by elder son MK Alagiri will be the reason for it. (
Read: No one person can decide who will lead DMK: Karunanidhi)
Alagiri said: ''If elections are held democratically, I will contest." He was talking about party elections for DMK president in a post-Karunanidhi scenario. And with this, the succession battle in the DMK became official. (
Read: I will contest to be DMK president: Azhagiri)
Since succession shall no more be a unanimous or smooth process and Karunanidhi's retirement would only complicate things further, the DMK leader may buy time to sort issues out by not quitting just yet.
Here's looking at who's stands where in this DMK tale of strife and succession:
M Karunanidhi: The 86-year-old had hinted at retirement last year. He had also by then begun to plan for smooth succession by making younger son MK Stalin the Deputy Chief Minister and giving him more responsibility. While father and the two sons have tried to play down the sibling rivalry, the split came out in the open when Karunanidhi made his preference known to all earlier this week. He said: ''Stalin is a Chief Minister who ably assists me."
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister followed it up with an emotional plea in an interview: ''They (Alagiri and Stalin) know that if they fight, I'm the one who will get hurt."
MK Stalin: Stalin has risen from the ranks. An MLA several times, a long-time Mayor of Chennai, now treasurer of the DMK and Deputy Chief Minister. He wields clout in the party. He is also said to have the support of Karunanidhi's grand nephew and Union Minister and media baron Dayanidhi Maran. Not long ago, a survey in a Maran paper projected Stalin as the most popular Karunanidhi successor.
MK Alagiri: Karunanidhi's older son and minister in the UPA government at the Centre, has been a prodigal son, in and out of the DMK. Unlike his brother, his strength is among voters. As the south zone secretary for the party in Tamil Nadu, he has been instrumental in a slew of victories for the party and feels short-changed with his ministerial post at the Centre. (
Read: Tamil Nadu succession war: Azhagiri's new salvo)
Alagiri says Stalin is not the obvious heir to his father's throne. The DMK can't dismiss Alagiri's claim summarily given his overwhelming hold in southern Tamil Nadu.
Kanimozhi: Karunanidhi's daughter and youngest child cannot be discounted in this battle just yet. A Tamil poet and journalist, Kanimozhi is an MP and the English-speaking national face of the DMK.