MK Alagiri convenes supporters' meeting on January 3

Over six years after he was expelled from the DMK, former Union Minister M K Alagiri will begin 2021 by meeting his supporters in Madurai to elicit their views on his political plans. The former DMK strongman, who lorded over Madurai for two decades without any formal post, has convened a meeting of his supporters on January 3.

Alagiri's announcement on Thursday comes months before Tamil Nadu goes to its most crucial Assembly elections in recent times. The 69-year-old Alagiri, who was expelled from DMK in 2014 by none other than his late father M Karunanidhi in his capacity as party president, continues to be cold-shouldered by the outfit and its new chief M K Stalin, his younger brother.

“I have convened a meeting of my supporters on January 3. Will decide on my future course of action after listening to them,” Alagiri told reporters here after meeting his ailing mother Dayalu Ammal at the Gopalapuram residence.

“Definitely. I will go by what they say,” he said when asked whether he would launch a new political party. Alagiri also replied in the negative when asked whether there was any chance of him working with or for the DMK in the upcoming 2021 assembly elections.

At the same breath, Alagiri said participation in an election could be in three different ways – exercising one's franchise, contesting the election or working in the election. He was responding to a question on his earlier statement that the upcoming elections will certainly witness his participation.

Alagiri's comments on Thursday comes a month after speculation mounted that he will launch a political party ahead of the Assembly elections and align with the BJP. However, the rebel DMK leader had rejected the proposed alliance as “rumours.” The former Union Minister also said he may meet Rajinikanth soon as he did not meet him on his birthday earlier this month.

Tamil Nadu will go to assembly polls in the first half of 2021 and the contest is expected to be very fierce this time with too many players in the political ground.

After his expulsion in 2014, Alagiri lost his clout as Stalin won over all his loyalists for he controlled the DMK and enjoyed Karunanidhi's backing. Alagiri maintained a low-profile till Karunanidhi's death and his efforts to raise a rebellion after his father's demise too petered out.

Pushed to the wall, Alagiri did a 360-degree turn by announcing that he will accept his younger brother's leadership and made a fervent appeal to be re-inducted into the DMK.

His coming out of the deep slumber just a few months before the elections, which the DMK feels will firmly place Stalin in the Chief Minister's chair, could be his way of reminding his younger brother about his appeal.