The oracle has spoken:
Azhagiri seems to have forgotten. Whenever he has put his father, M Karunanidhi on the spot, his brother Stalin always comes up trumps. It happened ten years ago, it is happening again. Within days after his explosive interview to a Tamil weekly that he will not accept anyone other than his father as his leader, he’s got egg on his face. How? Because Karunanidhi has made it clear that he’s not going to rethink anointing his second son M K Stalin as his political heir. And typical of Karunanidhi, he has used a pun to send a message to Azhagiri. “When I see all that praise from the newspapers, I wonder whether Stalin is a thunai muthalvar (deputy Chief Minister) or enakku thunaiaga irukkindra muthalvar (Chief Minister who is supporting me).” So where does Azhagiri go from here? Suffice it to say that Azhagiri is referred to as anja nenjar (braveheart) as opposed to thalapathi (commander), his brother Stalin’s moniker in party circles. In fact that itself should indicate where the two brothers are in the pecking order.
The evolution of Azhagiri:
He’s had practice in the past of being sidelined/ even being in the doghouse after being banished 10 years ago for being a bad boy. Azhagiri was then in Madurai of which he is the undisputed strongman today. Ten years ago, when Azhagiri became persona non grata, the then DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan had said, “Azhagiri is not only violating party discipline but also indulging in activities which undermine the fellow cadre's sense of discipline.” To be able to say that publicly of a son of the DMK patriarch shows how low Azhagiri’s stock was in DMK circles. And then came the edict from the DMK high command that cadre and functionaries should not have any truck with Azhagiri.
The irony is that while Stalin has come up from the ranks, even doing jail time during the Emergency, Azhagiri was not involved with politics. In the late 1980s, he was sent to Madurai ostensibly to look after the newly launched local edition of the party organ, Murasoli, but in actual fact because he was an embarrassment to his father. But after Vaiko left the DMK -- he realised he had no future because Stalin was being promoted -- to launch the MDMK, Karunanidhi needed someone to fill the vacuum in the South. Enter Azhagiri, except seven years later he had proved controversial picking fights with DMK functionaries and particularly those seen as being close to Stalin.
After Azhagiri had no compunctions about making the DMK lose and had the cadre in disarray instead of galvanising them, he was shown the door through the edict delivered by Anbazhagan. But the same man who made the DMK lose seats in the south in 1998, 1999 and even 2001(by working against the party) became the DMK’s trump card after 2006. The architect of the Thirumangalam formula -- so named because Thirumangalam was the first bypoll where Azhagiri employed the winning combination of money and muscle power to win elections, the older son of Karunanidhi has the patriarch’s gratitude for winning virtually all of the 11 bypolls held since the assembly election in 2006.
Now with the patriarch clearly taking sides with Stalin (at the inauguration of the Perambur flyover this week, he praised Stalin’s competence in executing various projects in the state), will Azhagiri, who was made the Organising Secretary (South) of the DMK and a union minister, go back to his bad old ways? That will be interesting to see because any move he makes against the DMK will benefit Jayalalitha , whom he has shown he has no love lost for. That’s Karunanidhi’s ace, although rumour has it that he may be rethinking his intention to take a back seat after the World Classical Tamil conference in June soon after he embarks on his 87th year.
Power as an elixir:
Recently the octogenarian , who has been in a wheelchair since his spine surgery last January, took the 300km trip to campaign in Pennagaram and it has paid off hugely with the DMK now hitting a century after winning the bypoll. If Karunanidhi retires, as he has been saying, no one can ask for a better send off. But his campaigning has proved that power is a potent elixir. The only fly in the ointment is that Azhagiri has inserted a spoke in the wheel of his well-laid plans. If you want mellow from an 86 going on 87-year-old, Karunanidhi is the wrong number to dial. He crowed after the Pennagaram victory: “Didn’t I predict (during campaigning ) that the AIADMK will lose its deposit? That’s happened now.” His party won 77,669 votes (45.46 per cent) of the total 1,70,820 votes polled, the PMK which stood second got 41,285 votes, AIADMK got 26,787 votes and the worst showing was by Vijaykanth ‘s DMDK which also lost its deposit after polling only 11,406 votes.
Amma's Woes"
Jayalalitha, to whom the discredit will go for the AIADMK losing its deposit for the first time in the party's 38 year history -- and let's not forget the party's founder M G Ramachandran ruled for 13 straight years after handing out a humiliating defeat to the DMK -- is neither mellow nor gracious. She’s talking of a conspiracy (by the DMK) which did her in. The only conspiracy that did her in was her refusal to offer an alternate to the people and her penchant for taking off to her Kodanadu retreat and leave the AIADMK floundering. If people saw her as an alternative, despite the DMK’s superior money power, she would have lost but not this badly!
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