Alagiri meets Karunanidhi amid rumours of return

 In a significant development, expelled DMK leader and former Union Minister MK Alagiri on Thursday called on his father and party President Karunanidhi, fuelling speculations that the Madurai "strong man" could campaign for the party.

This was the second meeting between Alagiri and Karunanidhi in less than a month as the erstwhile Madurai functionary met his father on March 24.

DMK sources said Alagiri was seeking his father’s blessings on Tamil new year’s day, but the meeting seems to have galvanised cadres, who wanted ex-Madurai zone secretary to come back to the party ahead of polls. The Karunanidhi-Alagiri meeting, a day after the DMK announced its candidates names for the May 16 Assembly polls, has also taken the political circles by surprise.

However, his younger brother and DMK Treasurer M K Stalin, tipped to be the heir apparent to Karunanidhi, was not present in the house when the meeting took place. Alagiri had been avoiding meetings with Karunanidhi ever since he was expelled from the party on March 25, 2014 in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls.