[1]Forced to bury the hatchet with his brother, DMK south zone organising secretary M.K. Alagiri on Monday announced that party treasurer M.K. Stalin would address workers’ meeting to kick off the campaign for the March 18 byelection to Sankarankoil reserve constituency in Tirunelveli district.
Alagiri, after paying tributes to late DMK leader S.S.Tennarasu on the occasion of his 84th birth anniversary at his residence, said the “kazhagam treasurer” would campaign for the candidate extensively while he would “supervise” the election work of DMK in the constituency, he said.
Mr Alagiri said he would participate in the ritual of filing nominations on February 27, while Stalin would address the workers’ meeting scheduled for the next day. And, campaign dates would be announced soon, he added.
Inside sources claim that Mr Alagiri would prefer to maintain a low profile though the candidate Jawahar Suryakumar was his family’s choice.
Tirunelveli district secretary Karuppasamy Pandian who enjoys a good rapport with Mr Stalin has no option but to work for Suryakumar, a DMK senior says. Though Suryakumar is qualified by the virtue of being a lawyer, he is not a familiar face either in party circles or among the locals.
In the previous bypolls, especially to Madurai Central, Madurai West and Tirumangalam, held during the DMK regime, Alagiri held the mantle and addressed workers meetings. “Though he might be the organising secretary for the southern districts, he does not wield any clout either among the functionaries or cadre in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts under which the Sankarankoil constituency falls as Stalin does.
With AIADMK in power, Alagiri would only prefer to refrain from his election-related supervising works. Hence, he wishes to put Stalin in the forefront,” a party leader quipped.
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