Changes in DMK to Lead to Power Centralisation
The move of having a district secretary for just two Assembly seats is expected to pave the way for the centralisation of the organisation with power concentrated with the State leadership
Chennai: The DMK move to create 110 district secretary posts is a major transformation from the 1970s when it had only a dozen powerful regional satraps rooted in party ideology and effective in groundwork. The move of having a district secretary for just two Assembly seats is expected to pave the way for the centralisation of the organisation with power concentrated with the State leadership.
The move will also end the powers of many entrants from the AIADMK including former ministers Anitha R. Radhakrishnan, K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, S. Reghupathi, S. Muthusamy and E.V. Velu. When Chennai gets about 8 to 10 district secretaries, the powers of former ministers P.K. Sekar Babu and Ma. Subramanian too will be curtailed to two seats.
The party’s growth in Chennai is attributed to the organisational work of N.V. Natarajan one of the five founding members of the DMK along with former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai, E.V.K. Sampath, R. Nedunchezhian and K.A. Mathiyazhagan. From 1974, R.D. Seethapathi was the lone district secretary for the capital when the party successfully took on the AIADMK founded by the charismatic MGR and protected the bastion from erosion. Seethapathi was arrested during the emergency and kept the party afloat during the turbulent times.
In the 2026 polls, the DMK won just 2 out of the 37 constituencies in Chennai and surrounding districts of Chengalpet, Kanchipuram and Thiruvallur. Young faces like Prabhakar Raja, Karthick Mohan and Ezhilan Naganathan are said to be in the race for new district secretaries. K.M. Kathiravan and ‘Madhuranthagam’ Arumugam were the lone district secretaries for the united Chengalpet district comprising Kanchipuram and Thiruvallur. Former minister T.M. Anbarasan and former MLA K. Sundar will lose their district posts due to their age and number of times they held the posts.
Anbil P. Dharmalingam, Mannai-P. Narayanasamy were the delta heavy weights and known for their ideological clarity and organisational powers. Veerapandi S. Arumugam was in control of Salem for many decades while Madurai Muthu was a powerful district leader in the undivided Madurai. Leaders like Kovai Chezhian and C.T. Dhandapani had anchored the DMK in the Coimbatore region. Though Vaiko was pitched to Parliament straightaway, he was one of the powerful leaders in the undivided Tirunelveli district.
Other district leaders who would be eased out of power include former ministers M.R.K, Panneerselvam, R. Gandhi, S.S. Sivasankar, K.R. Periyakaruppan besides longtime district secretaries G. Thalapathi, P. Murthy, S.R. Sivalingam, Poondi S. Kalaivanan, Cumbum. C. Ramakrishnan, K.S. Masthan, K. Anbazhagan and K. Selvaraj. Some of them could be kicked upstairs without a hold on the party at ground level.
A total of 20 district secretaries will be replaced and about 30 new district secretaries will be appointed soon. The DMK had grown to the level of capturing power with a dozen ideologically committed district secretaries with regular touch with the masses and partymen. It is to be seen if 110 district secretaries and a centralised State leadership can revive the DMK which polled just 24.19 per cent votes in the 2026 Assembly elections. Besides, changing the subjective factors like party organisation alone without a grasp of the objective factors like the ground situation, people’s thinking and the political necessities of changing times may not be sufficient to attain success.
