The DMK on Thursday suspended organising secretary PV Kalyanasundaram for demanding that party treasurer MK Stalin be declared as the party's CM candidate in the next general elections.
A terse announcement by DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan said that Kalyanasundaram, who is a Stalin loyalist, was suspended for flouting party discipline.
He has been suspended for working against the party's interests and bringing disrepute to the party, the general secretary said in a statement.
"PV Kalyanasundaram is suspended from all posts including the primary membership of DMK," he said and added "in his place party's legal wing secretary RS Bharati has been appointed as the organising secretary.
Kalyanasundaram had, in a letter to party chief M Karunanidhi, not only wanted the declaration of Stalin's candidature for CM in next polls but also wanted the removal of tainted leaders like Kanimozhi, A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran.
He made these demands in the form of suggestions to strengthen the party.
Incidentally, some of his suggestions were similar to the concerns raised by Stalin after the electoral debacle in the assembly polls in 2011 and more recently the drubbing the DMK got in the Lok Sabha general elections in which the party drew a blank.
There has been a growing clamour to name Stalin as the DMK's CM candidate for the 2016 elections in an indication that they did not want anything to be left to chance.
There has been a growing clamour to name Stalin as the DMK's CM candidate for the 2016 elections in an indication that they did not want anything to be left to chance.
DMK patriarch Karunanidhi had virtually declared Stalin as his political successor and had also dismissed his elder son MK Alagiri, who had a running feud with Stalin, from the party earlier this year in March.
Party sources see nervousness in Stalin supporters in the growing clamour for naming him as CM candidate as they fear the return of Alagiri into party fold.
Sibling rivalry had cost the DMK dear in the 2011 Assembly elections as also in the Lok Sabha general elections when the party drew a blank.