Chennai: Asserting that he will be the Chief Minister if his party wins the May 16 Assembly elections, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday said his son M. K. Stalin will don the mantle only after him.
In an interview to NDTV, the DMK chief said M K Stalin is foremost among those who want him to take over as Chief Minister for a record sixth term. “M.K. Stalin does not want to become Chief Minister. He has himself said the DMK president has to be the Chief Minister of the DMK Government. I have never lost an election since 1957 when I entered the Assembly for the first time. I should become the Chief Minister for sixth term after elections. “M.K. Stalin is foremost among those who want me to take over as Chief Minister for the sixth term,” Mr Karunanidhi said.
He was responding to a question whether he would hand over the mantle of Chief Ministership to someone who is young, especially to his son Mr Stalin, who is the favourite of the party cadre.
“Stalin can become Chief Minister only if nature does something to me,” the channel quoted Mr Karunanidhi as saying. This is not the first time that the DMK chief is making it clear that he will be the Chief Minister if his party, the DMK, wins the polls. A fortnight back, speaking to Puthiya Thalaimurai and NewsX, the DMK chief had exuded confidence that the Dravidian party would win enough seats in the election to form the government on its own, without having to depend on alliance partners like the Congress.
The 92-year-old DMK chief hit the campaign trail on April 23 and has been canvassing for votes and addressing public meetings across the state. He also shared the dais with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in Chennai on May 5.
