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Supporters of Alagiri request Stalin to take them back into DMK
Supporters of MK Stalin’s estranged brother MK Alagiri, who were expelled from the DMK in 2014, have written to the chief minister requesting his pardon and to take them back into the party
Supporters of MK Stalin’s estranged brother MK Alagiri, who were expelled from the DMK in 2014, have written to the chief minister requesting his pardon and to take them back into the party, people familiar with the matter.
Alagiri, was the DMK’s strongman in Madurai district and following his open rebellion against Stalin, their father late M Karunanidhi expelled him from the party and the family in 2014. Besides, 15 of his supporters were shown the door. Alagiri has been inactive in politics since then. Last week, nine of those supporters submitted a letter to the DMK’s Madurai district secretary K Thalapathy expressing to come back to the DMK.
“The Madurai district secretary has handed over the letter to my office,” DMK’s organising secretary R S Bharathi told HT. “I’m yet to take it over to our leader (Stalin). The decision is at his discretion.”
A loyalist of Alagiri, who did not wish to be named, said that they have been discussing returning to the party for a while. “We have now expressed our wish and there are some procedures we have to go through before we are inducted into the party. We have been told to wait for 10 days,” said the former party member and loyalist. “We have worked only for the DMK and we wish to go back.”
A senior DMK leader from Madurai told HT that nine of Alagiri’s supporters had submitted the letter. “They have said even though they were expelled, they have worked for the DMK’s victories,” the leader said. “They have asked to be forgiven and promised that they will not indulge in any anti-party activities.”
Ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, Alagiri held a public meeting in Madurai vowing to not let Stalin become chief minister. Alagiri escalated a prolonged sibling rivalry even as he said that he didn’t wish to become chief minister. He accused Stalin of betraying him and said that their father and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi was planning to take him back into the party before he fell ill.
Alagiri, a former Union minister, was once the party’s organising secretary of Tamil Nadu’s southern districts and Madurai was his bastion. In 2014, Karunanidhi expelled him for violating party discipline.
Alagiri has maintained a low profile since then except for when he took out a rally in Chennai to Karunanidhi’s mausoleum following his father’s death in 2018.
