Stalin is DMK working president

The DMK on Wednesday sorted out its succession plan by appointing treasurer M K Stalin as its working president.

The change of guard has been brought by the advancing age and ill-health  of its leader M Karunanidhi.

The party’s general council that met here in the absence of Karunanidhi for the first time in nearly five decades decided to make Stalin the de facto leader.

Amid loud cheers and applause, a resolution passed to this effect also mentioned that Stalin would continue as the party treasurer.

Doctors advised the 92-year-old Karunanidhi not to attend the meeting, prompting his absence in the General Council which he continuously chaired since he took over as president in 1969 after founder Annadurai’s demise.

The post of working president has been created with an amendment to the party’s law, giving Stalin the authority to make important decisions and to appoint district secretaries and other key functionaries.

During his speech, Stalin said his elevation is to support his father. The decision to appoint him as working president was not taken suddenly, but a well-thought-out move made after consulting the DMK’s top leadership.

After the statements against DMK leadership resulted in the expulsion of his older brother and former union minister M K Alagiri in 2014, Stalin emerged as the heir apparent to the party’s top job.