Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam south zone organising secretary and Union Minister M.K. Alagiri has assailed those who had left his faction and said such detractors would soon regret their action.
“When the DMK was in power, many people, including party functionaries, benefited through us in many ways. Today, the party is out of power. The beneficiaries too have conveniently forgotten us. But, I have not. I will not forget them.”
Mr. Alagiri was speaking at a wedding of a party functionary in the city. Recalling how Annadurai wished good luck to Sivaji Ganesan when he left the DMK, Mr. Alagiri said he would follow Anna’s path by wishing his detractors best of luck.
“But, if it is Madurai, nothing can happen without us…”
Those who had switched loyalties might be in a feel-good mood now, but when elections were announced, they would find the going tough, he said. “Without our poll strategy and door-to-door campaign, it would be impossible to win elections in future. Today, many who won with our support and guidance attributed their victory to some others in the party.”
Though Mr. Alagiri did not name any person, in an apparent reference to Madurai urban secretary G. Thalapathi and a few other senior party functionaries who had moved to M.K. Stalin’s camp in the recent past, the DMK strongman said being stabbed in the back was not something new to him.
“It has happened many times in my life. I have undergone the ordeals. As the DMK is not in power today, it has in a way helped me identify the opportunists…I am pretty comfortable amid my loyal supporters,” he asserted.
Later, when reporters asked him the reason for such tough talk, Mr. Alagiri said, “This is just a beginning…Wait and watch. Many more things will unfold, you will see.”
