DMK working president MK Stalin, was on Tuesday elected as the party president, during the party’s General Council meeting in Chennai. The 65-year-old leader was formally elected after the death of his father and party chief M Karunanidhi.
On Sunday, he had filed his nomination for the post at Anna Arivalayam, the party headquarters. He was elected party president unopposed.
DMK Principal Secretary Durai Murugan was elected Treasurer, succeeding Stalin, a post he vacated recently in view of his proposed elevation.
Stalin, the younger son of Karunanidhi, had held several party posts, including that of treasurer and youth-wing secretary.
Sibling rivalry between Stalin and his elder brother M K Alagiri came to the fore recently, when the latter claimed that true loyalists of Karunanidhi were with him. Alagiri also has announced he would lead a peace rally in Chennai on September 5, to the mausoleum of Karunanidhi. But Alagiri found no takers in DMK party and the succession effected smoothly to M.K Stalin and party cadres across Tamilnadu celebrating bursting crackers
His journey in the party began early when he campaigned in the 1967 elections as a 14-year-old school student. He became the party’s youth-wing secretary in 1984.
Stalin’s growth has been steady and he became party deputy general secretary in 2003. He was re-elected treasurer for the second five-year term in January 2015.
He became an MLA for the first time in 1989 from Thousand Lights constituency in the city from where he was re-elected thrice.
He also become elected mayor in Chennai and responsible for modernisation of city with lot od parks and introduced waste disposal system that also been continued till now
In 2006, he became the Municipal Administration Minister in the DMK government and went on to become the Deputy Chief Minister in 2009.
Soon after his elevation as DMK chief, MK Stalin expressed concern over the present political situation and said that the secular fabric of the country is under attack by authoritative and communal forces.
Addressing the DMK General Council meeting being held in Chennai, Stalin said, “Today’s political situation has come as a grave challenge. Education, art, literature, religion are under attack by authoritative and communal forces. The Union government is trying to destabilise judiciary and selection of governors. All this has dealt a blow to the secular principles”.
