LS polls: Karunanidhi throws Alagiri out of DMK house

Chennai: The DMK on Tuesday dismissed party president M Karunanidhi’s rebellious son and former Union minister M. K. Alagiri from the party as he made provocative charges against the leadership, besides hobnobbing with leaders of rival parties.

A visibly upset Karunanidhi told reporters at the DMK headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, that he along with party general secretary K. Anbazhagan, took the decision to expel Alagiri from the party as he continued to act in a manner detrimental to party interests while ignoring the show-cause notice sent to him seeking explanation for his indiscipline. Alagiri was suspended from DMK on January 24 after he made a scathing attack on DMDK chief Vijayakanth even as his younger brother Stalin was negotiating poll alliance with the film star.

Rather addressing the show-cause notice in a softening manner and seeking to patch up with his family and the party, Alagiri started granting audience with rival politicians seeking his support in Madurai and the southern districts. BJP ally and MDMK chief Vaiko called on Alagiri a couple of days back and BJP’s state secretary H. Raja met him a day later for help at Sivagangai, where Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karthi is the Congress candidate.

For the DMK, Alagiri had been the monarch of the south until a couple of years ago when Stalin tightened hold by packing all the district units with his loyalists thereby worsening the never-been-good ties with the short-tempered sibling.