Stalin’s son likely to head DMK’s youth wing

Yet another ‘son rise’ seems to be in the offing in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Udhayanidhi, actor and son of DMK president M K Stalin, is likely to be elevated as the secretary of the powerful youth wing of the party very soon.

Udhayanidhi, who has acted in several films besides owning a film production and distribution firm, was one of the star campaigners for the DMK in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, besides his father Stalin who crisscrossed the entire state to garner votes for candidates of the party-led alliance.

The 41-year-old actor, who was keeping a low-profile for long, plunged into politics in early 2018 and has been addressing party meetings every now and then. Though he does not hold any position within the DMK, the actor campaigned for almost all candidates of the alliance in the Lok Sabha polls, including his aunt Kanimozhi.

Sources said Udhayanidhi’s elevation as youth wing secretary, a post held by Stalin for decades together, is just a matter of time and could happen within a month. They said more than 40 district secretaries have written to Stalin to appoint Udhayanidhi as the youth wing secretary to galvanise party cadre ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections.

“The party leaders feel he should be given a post since he has emerged as one of the star campaigners of the DMK. His meetings were well received by the public and the party would want to use him for strengthening the organisation at the grassroots ahead of the Assembly polls,” a senior leader told DH.

Stalin relinquished his position as youth wing secretary after he was elected working president of the DMK in 2017 and appointed former minister Vellakoil Swaminathan in his place. If the appointment is made, Udhayanidhi will join a long list of leaders from the DMK’s first family to take a plunge into politics — Murasoli Maran, Dayanidhi Maran, Kanimozhi and M K Alagiri, who has now been suspended from the party.

For long, Stalin had kept his immediate family out of politics, but the script has undergone a tremendous change in the past one year.