Chennai: Sending a clear message that he is in absolute control, DMK working president M. K. Stalin on Wednesday said he will not be frightened by any flutter and asserted that he would overcome any challenge from within or outside the party, with the support of Kalaignar's (his father and late DMK chief M. Karunanidhi) Udan Pirappu (sibling - the popular word that Karunanidhi used to address his party workers). He said so in a letter to his party cadres.
The late leader, Mr. Stalin said, has given him strength to face challenges and based on this he has taken up the mantle to lead the party. His remarks come at a time when his elder brother and former Union Minister Alagiri, expelled by DMK patriarch in 2014 at the height of his fight with Stalin over establishing supremacy in the party, has raised a banner of revolt. On Monday, Alagiri claimed all the party workers loyal to Karunanidhi were with him and that the DMK would “dig its own grave” if it did not take him back.
Mr Stalin also said “political rivals” were more concerned about what was happening in the DMK in post-Karunanidhi.
“The central rulers (BJP) are sowing communalism and snatching away the state's rights. Political rivals are showing more concern than us to know what is happening in our party in the wake of Thalaivar's (leader - Karunanidhi) loss,” he said. They were nursing the fond hope that they can make a “mountain out of a molehill”, he added.
Stalin said he took up the responsibility of keeping the party intact in the wake of Karunanidhi's demise with the “unshakable confidence” that the supporters will be with him.
