Stalin course correction likely to see new faces

Chennai: Taking cue from their thalapathi who offered to resign knowing well that it would not be accepted by father-party president M. Karunanidhi, around a dozen DMK district secretaries among other functionaries, mostly hardcore Stalin loyalists had also offered to resign their posts on Sunday.

The “no heir” policy introduced by Stalin in the just concluded Lok Sabha poll was only the beginning and it is seriously insufficient, a party senior with knowledge of Saturday’s brainstorming at Gopalapuram said conceding that Stalin needs to do more to rejuvenate the party if he seriously eyes big in 2016. 

A close confidant of Stalin, who admitted to functionaries offering to resign and dropping the idea after Stalin’s resignation was not accepted by Karunanidhi, exuded confidence that a sea change in the organisation would happen before December 2014 by when the DMK has assured Election Commission that it would complete its organisational polls. One of the major course corrections would be inducting new faces and doing away with old horses who occupy the chair of district secretaries and continue to get tickets for their sidekicks and kith and kin for decades now, remarked a senior udanpirapu.

The parent body could take cue from the youth wing in which heirs of party seniors have been prevented from occupying posts from union to district level leadership, pointed out a state functionary, suggesting that Stalin should fight the resistance shown by seniors and apply the no heir policy in parent body polls as well.  

Party functionaries aside, even critics like writer and AAP leader Gnani argue that Stalin should change his politicking style and go for course correction instead of resigning his treasurer post. “The person who should resign is Karunanidhi. If he does not want to own responsibility at 90, why should Stalin in the 60s do, for the poll debacle? Karunanidhi should make way for Stalin,” he said.  

Despite drawing a blank, the party has retained its consistent 23 per cent votes in the Lok Sabha polls, but it failed to lure new voters, a district secretary conceded admitting that the new votes would not come to DMK unless the party reworks its old style of politicking and infuses new blood in the party organisation.