Chennai: In a rare gesture, DMK heavyweights in Chennai, who are vying for the party district secretary posts and who otherwise sulk over their subordinate kazhaga udanpirrapus, are friendly with young office-bearers. They are seeking their support for the party organisation polls and the fissure between rival gangs is also growing in the capital, particularly in north Chennai.
However the drama is likely to end before the New Year as Anna Arivalayam, (DMK headquarters) sources hint that orgainsational posts in Chennai will be announced within two days.Former MLA B. Ranganathan continues his campaign with party workers citing that there will be an election for district secretary’s post. He has urged the local party office-bearers to extend their support for him. However supporters of P. K. Sekar Babu chant that their Annan has been selected for the top post and currently he is busy selecting his own team.R. D. Sekar, a former corporation councillor who was also contending for the top post is now a man of silence, confined to his house.
While the party high command of DMK has almost settled the issue either by ‘consensus’ or elections, the announcement for the Chennai region is expected before the New Year. And what seems to be annoying some of the old timers in the party is that the usual extravaganza has been missing this time, as the top posts are allotted based on ‘consensus’. Only those in the good books of party high command are given a choice and others do not have a democratic option of even losing in the party polls.
“The major difference between the DMK and AIADMK is that in the ruling party the posts are given, whereas in DMK you had to contest and win. Kalaignar would not intervene in local issues. He would allow the regional satraps to fight and would encourage the winner and console the loser. This is now a thing of past,” recalls a former DMK councillor. It may be noted that the DMK leadership has divided the 35 party districts into 65 in an effort to put an end to the reign of satraps.
“If a district secretary wins at least two Assembly constituencies under his jurisdiction, our party with 65 secretaries will have more than 120 MLAs enabling us a simple majority in 2016 assembly polls”, says a DMK senior and a confidante of M. K. Stalin.
