M.K. Alagiri, former Union Minister and eldest son of the late M. Karunanidhi, on Thursday said he was ready to work under the leadership of his younger brother, M.K. Stalin, if readmitted into the DMK. He, however, observed that they were not ready to admit him.
Mr. Alagiri, once the party’s south zone organiser with his base in Madurai, was expelled from the DMK in 2014 by Karunanidhi for alleged anti-party activities and has always remained at loggerheads with Mr. Stalin.
After holding discussions with his loyalists in Madurai in connection with a silent rally planned by him to pay homage to his father and as a show of strength in Chennai on September 5, Mr. Alagiri said that he was ready to rejoin the DMK to save the party, but they were not ready to admit him.
"When [I] have the wish to join party, [I] will have to accept the leadership," he said.
This statement comes as a surprise as Mr. Alagiri has often said he cannot accept anyone else as his leader other than his father.
Though he appeared to have softened his stand against his younger brother, Mr. Alagiri said the party general council alone was not the party per se.
'1,500 members of general council do not form entire party'
When asked about the general council having elected Mr. Stalin as party president, he said that 1,500 members of the general council do not form the entire party. "The real party cadres are with me. The numbers will go up after the rally," he said.
Mr. Alagiri said neither he nor his son, Dhayanidhi Alagiri, had sought any party post as a condition to join the DMK.
Immediately after Karunanidhi's death, Mr. Alagiri alleged that the party assets and funds were being misused. He also said he would never be taken back into the party as the party leaders feared that he would question their wrongdoings.
