Estranged brothers Stalin, Alagiri meet at mother Dayalu’s 90th birthday event

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and his estranged elder brother M K Alagiri came face-to-face for the first time in many years at an event to celebrate the 90th birthday of their mother Dayalu Ammal.

Stalin and Alagiri attended the private ceremony at the Gopalapuram residence of late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Sunday to wish their mother Dayalu. This is probably the first time that the two leaders are coming face-to-face after Stalin brought the DMK back to power in 2021.

“They met and spoke,” Udhayanidhi Stalin, Sports Minister and Stalin’s son, told reporters. “When did they fight?” Udhayanidhi replied when reporters asked whether they have made peace.

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Udhayanidhi had met Alagiri in Madurai in January of this year, triggering speculation about the latter’s re-entry into the DMK. “I don’t know,” was all Udhayanidhi said on Sunday when reporters asked whether Alagiri would be back in the DMK.

Dayalu, Karunanidhi’s second wife, continues to live at the Gopalapuram residence, which was bought by her husband in the 1950s when he was a celebrated scriptwriter in Tamil cinema.

Alagiri, Karunanidhi’s elder son, was expelled from the DMK in 2014 for “speaking ill” of Stalin and the decision was never re-considered by Karunanidhi. Alagiri’s efforts to rejoin the DMK after Karunanidhi’s death also didn’t fructify due to opposition from party seniors.