: The general council of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which would meet here on Wednesday, is expected to appoint party treasurer M.K. Stalin as the working president of the party, a post being created in view of the failing health of party president M. Karunanidhi.
“Mr. Stalin will be appointed by amending the bylaws of the party. In the past too, the party had amended its bylaws to create two deputy general secretary posts reserved for a woman and a Dalit,” said a former minister and DMK veteran.
Besides the resolution for amending bylaws and appointing a working president, resolutions on the current agricultural crisis and farmers’ suicides in the Delta region will be adopted in the meeting. Mr. Stalin will continue to hold the post of treasurer.
“He will be the first working president of the DMK. In fact, the post of president was created only after the demise of party founder C.N. Annadurai, who had reserved the president’s post for his political mentor and Dravidar Kazhagam leader Periyar E.V. Ramasamy. Mr. Karunanidhi is the first president of the DMK,” recalled K. Thirunavukkarasu, historian of the Dravidian movement.
In the Dravidar Kazhagam, there used to be an ‘administrative’ president apart from the president.
Historical precedent
“When Anna launched the DMK, he decided to create a party structure along the lines of the communist parties, and all powers were vested with the general secretary,” explained Mr. Thirunavukkarasu.
In 1960, the post of presidium chairman was introduced as there was an intense contest for the post of general secretary. E.V.K. Sampath was the first presidium chairman, and later V.R. Nedunchezhian succeeded him after he left the DMK.As Nedunchezhian, who could not become the Chief Minister after Anna’s death, was upset, Mr. Karunanidhi created the post of president for himself and made Mr. Nedunchezhian the general secretary. Nonetheless, in the new scheme of things, the post of president was deemed more powerful than that of the general secretary.
