Stalin’s men elected unopposed

DMK general council meeting will be held on January 9

The secretaries for the DMK’s Chennai district units were elected unopposed in the organisational polls.

The DMK used to have two district units — South and North — and they were bifurcated to create two more districts — East and West.

While former Chennai Mayor M. Subramaniam has been elected as the secretary of the South Chennai district, former AIADMK MLA P.K. Sekar Babu, who defected to the DMK, has become the secretary of the Chennai East district.

DMK’s heavyweights such as P. Ranganathan and Chengai Sivam had to bow out of the race as Mr. Sekar Babu had the blessings of party treasurer M.K. Stalin.

Another heavyweight from North Chennai, Parithi Ilamvazhuthi, had already left the DMK to join the AIADMK after differences of opinion with Mr. Stalin.

Sudarsanam, former secretary of the DMK’s Tiruvallur district unit, has now become the secretary of the North Chennai unit after many parts of Tiruvallur, including Madhavaram. were included in North Chennai.

DMK’s sitting MLA J. Anbazhagan is the secretary of the West Chennai unit. Earlier as the secretary of the South Chennai district, he used to control a vast turf.

But bifurcation of the districts not only limited his powers, but also catapulted to eminence a prominent face such as M. Subramaniam, who earned respect of the people as Chennai Mayor.

Meanwhile, the DMK’s general council meeting will be held at the party headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, on January 9 to elect the party president, general secretary, treasurer and audit committee members.

The meet is likely to re-elect M. Karunanidhi as party president, K. Anbazhagan as general secretary and M.K. Stalin as treasurer, party sources said.