Will Durai Murugan be DMK’s new General Secretary?

Senior DMK leader Durai Murugan, one of the close confidants of late M Karunanidhi, is likely to be the new general secretary of the 71-year-old Dravidian major succeeding K Anbazhagan, who passed away a fortnight ago.

Durai Murugan, currently the Treasurer, which places him at number 3 in the pecking order of the party, has resigned his post and wishes to contest the polls, scheduled for March 29, to be elected the new general secretary.

Announcing this, DMK President M K Stalin said he has accepted Durai Murugan’s resignation and announced that elections will be held to elect new treasurer along with general secretary on the same day.

“Elections for the posts of General Secretary and Treasurer will be held on March 29 at the General Council meeting of the DMK. Members of the General Council are asked to attend the meeting without fail,” Stalin said in the statement.

With this, it is certain that Durai Murugan will succeed Anbazhagan, who held the post from 1977 till his last breath on March 7, as the fourth general secretary of the party. The party will now have to find a replacement for the treasurer post and there are several claimants for it.

Former Union Minister A Raja, a prominent Dalit leader, former state ministers E V Velu and I Periyasamy and party’s parliamentary party leader T R Baalu are said to be in the race for the post. There is also clamor for Kanimozhi, Stalin’s half-sister, to be elevated to the Treasurer’s post.

A senior DMK leader told DH that going by the past tradition, there will be no election for the top three posts in the DMK as a consensus will be evolved within the party by the leadership. “I am sure our President M K Stalin will hold discussions and arrive at a consensus on the candidate for Treasurer’s post,” the leader said.

Anbazhagan, who was General Secretary of the DMK for 43 years and a fellow traveler of its patriarch M Karunanidhi for more than six decades, passed away on March 7 due to age-related illness.