Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has asked his party and supporters to wait till June for information on when he will retire.
He said, "Please be patient till the World Tamil conference in June. There's a long time. I will consider both views among cadres - to continue as Chief
Minister or to pass the mantle to M K Stalin."
In a speech over the weekend, Karunanidhi announced "After the Tamil meet I will get even more closer to you leaving aside politics and the ministerial positions". That led to intense speculation about his retirement.
His party, caught off-guard, immediately went into damage-control mode. "It's his personal opinion. We have not discussed this at any quarter," says K Anbazhagan, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister.
Analysts say this could be Karunanidhi's strategy to install his son Stalin as Chief minister before the 2011 elections in Tamil Nadu.
Karunanidhi's elder son, M K Alagiri, is a minister at the Centre. Promoting Stalin to chief minister could also be Karunanidhi's way of ending the bitter sibling rivalry among his children.