Why DMK choose Madurai as venue for it's general council meeting
MADURAI: DMK's choice of Madurai for the general council meeting after 48 years, chief minister M K Stalin's colourful road show and his meeting with elder brother M K Alagiri all point to the party's renewed focus on south Tamil Nadu.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
There are reasons for DMK's south push. The AIADMK-BJP front looks stronger than before after Nainar Nagenthran, a native of Tirunelveli with local heft, became BJP state president. In addition, ousted AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam and AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran too have considerable sway over voters, particularly thevars who form a sizeable votebank in the south.
AMMK's inroads into the AIADMK vote share in 2021 assembly polls helped DMK win several seats.
DMK is wary that this may not happen in 2026 as TTV would be part of the BJP- AIADMK front.
"It has been a long time since we held the GC in Madurai. DMK's performance in the southern districts was satisfactory in the 2021 assembly elections. This time (2026 polls) we wish to further improve our performance in the southern districts," DMK organising secretary R S Bharathi told TOI.
Speaking about the significance of choosing Madurai for conducting the general council meeting, CM Stalin, while addressing the functionaries during the meeting said, "This is the seventh time we are holding the general council meeting in Madurai, and it will serve as the stepping stone to our seventh victory in the state assembly elections."
This was also the first to be conducted outside Chennai after Stalin became party president. The last time the GC was held outside Chennai was in Coimbatore in 2011.
"Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election we organised a mega public meeting in Coimbatore since we wanted to win all the seats in western TN. Now we want to revitalise our rank and file in Madurai and down south. Hence, the temple city was chosen," said a party functionary.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
It was part of the southern push that dairy development minister T Mano Thangaraj who was sacked from the post last year was reinducted into cabinet a month ago, he said.
Yet another objective is to iron out internal feuds. Stalin calling on Alagiri might have signalled the end of the once intense factional rivalry in DMK, but the party is grappling with factionalism at local level in southern districts.
Tirunelveli DMK mayor P M Saravanan has a running feud with his own party councillors.
In Madurai corporation too, the mayor's husband P Ponvasanth had to be suspended a few days back for anti party activities. Stalin hopes the synergy generated by the general council would repair the rifts.
While there was speculation that Alagiri might return back to action after his meeting with Stalin, party insiders said the chances of remote.
"Neither is Alagiri in a mood to carry out party work, nor is thalaivar inclined to give him party post," said a senior party functionary.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Print
37 minutes ago
- The Print
BJP, JD(S) slam Karnataka govt for making police officials ‘scapegoat' for Bengaluru stampede
JD(S) leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy termed the suspension of five officials as a 'blunder' and asserted that this government should go. Bengaluru, Jun 6 (PTI) Opposition BJP and JD(S) in Karnataka on Friday jointly lashed out at the Congress government for making police officers the 'scapegoat' for the stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium here that killed 11 people, and alleged that the entire responsibility for the incident lies with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar. The stampede occurred on Wednesday evening in front of the stadium, where a large number of people thronged to participate in the RCB team's IPL victory celebrations. Eleven people have died and 56 were injured in the incident. The government on Thursday suspended Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda and four other senior police officials in connection with the incident for the dereliction of duty. 'Yesterday's decision to suspend five police officers is another blunder of this government. The entire fault lies with the government. To build their image by misusing this IPL victory of RCB, both CM and DCM have taken decisions (to organise victory celebration) by going against the advice given by senior officers,' Kumaraswamy said. Speaking to reporters here, he said, 'Now after the bad incident (stampede) that took place on June 4, the government is blaming it as police failure. Failure of police means government failure. This government should go according to me.' Vijayendra said Siddarmaiah to save his face has made the police officers the scapegoat by targeting them. 'Police commissioner of Bengaluru has been made the scapegoat in this entire episode. But it was a failure on part of the intelligence and the intelligence department is with Siddaramaiah,' he said. Noting that in the FIR that was registered, RCB, DNA event management firm and KSCA have been named as accused. 'But in this entire episode accused number one is the chief minister himself, accused number two is deputy CM D K Shivakumar — they have to be named as accused number one and two, because it is sheer carelessness, negligence on part of the state government, which has led to this tragedy,' the BJP chief said. The CM has to take up the responsibility, instead of making the officers as the scapegoat. 'The chief minister has to tender his resignation and D K Shivakumar has to resign,' he said. Pointing out that as per the FIR, when the permission was sought for victory rally, it was denied by the police, Vijayendra asked, then how did the government decide to organise the victory celebration on the grand steps of Vidhana Soudha. 'Lakhs of people had gathered near Chinnaswamy stadium and Vidhana Soudha, so police could not give security at both places and this resulted in tragedy and loss of 11 lives,' he said. Noting that ultimately the onus is on the CM and Deputy CM, he further said, despite deaths they went on with the celebrations. 'Shivakumar had even gone to the victory celebration at the stadium despite deaths there. This is so insensitive.' Alleging that pressure was exerted by the CM himself to carryout the victory celebrations of RCB, Vijayendra claimed that the senior officials were called to CM's house and when they tried convince him not to organise celebrations hurriedly, Siddaramaiah insisted and ordered to give permission and only then permission was granted. 'This clearly shows the government's eagerness to encash on RCB's victory for their publicity gimmick that has led to this tragedy,' he added. PTI KSU KH This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta gets death threat, police identify caller
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta received a threat call late Thursday call, made to Ghaziabad Police Control Room at around 11 pm, threatened to kill Rekha Gupta, prompting swift action by the police in both Ghaziabad and Police immediately reported the matter to the Delhi Police, which has now been put on alert. Preliminary investigations have led to the identification of the caller. However, the phone number has since been switched off and is to Ghaziabad police, the call was made in the Kotwali police station are underway to trace the phone and the comes hours after sources told India Today that the BJP-led Delhi government's chief has been allotted an official residence close to her assembly constituency. The allotment came after Rekha Gupta completed over a hundred days in the residence assigned to her is in proximity to the city centre, facilitating easy access to both her constituency and official engagements.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
‘Thanks for winning IPL': Tejasvi Surya's sarcastic dig at Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar over Bengaluru stampede
Bengaluru South MP and BJP leader Tejasvi Surya took a sharp sarcastic dig at Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, days after 11 people died in a stampede near Chinnaswamy Stadium during the RCB victory celebration on June 4. Also Read - Chaos in Bengaluru Metro: Viral video shows fans jumping gates amid stampede frenzy. Watch Surya posted a photo of DK Shivakumar holding the IPL trophy inside Vidhana Soudha during the felicitation ceremony and took to X to mock the ruling Congress leaders. In a scathing post, Surya wrote, 'We, RCB fans, are indebted to CM Siddaramaiah and DCM DK Shivakumar for winning us the IPL after 18 years. They displayed incredible cricketing and leadership skills on the field and brought our club this long elusive glory.' Taking the sarcasm further, Surya added, 'We are also very upset about Virat Kohli, other players and the RCB Management for poor arrangement of the security measures at the program organised to honour CM & DK and their families for winning us the trophy. Good that RCB Management is arrested and police commissioner is suspended. They are primarily responsible for security in Bengaluru. Anyways, CM and DKS can now go back to Chinnaswamy Stadium to start practising for their next IPL season.' Also Read - Karnataka CM's political secretary K Govindaraj sacked amid Bengaluru stampede outrage The BJP MP's remarks came amid criticism over the state government's role in handling the massive crowds during the celebration, which turned fatal. While the Congress government has maintained that the police and organisers are to blame, the BJP has alleged that the event was turned into a political spectacle without proper planning. Following the tragedy, the Karnataka government suspended several senior police officers, including Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda. Senior IPS officer Seemant Kumar Singh has now taken charge as the city's new commissioner. Defending the suspensions, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, 'Prima facie, those who have not fulfilled their responsibility properly have been suspended.' He also accused the BJP and JD(S) of politicising the incident instead of expressing genuine concern for the victims. Meanwhile, the Bengaluru police have arrested Nikhil Sosale, the marketing head of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), in connection with the mishandling of crowd arrangements during the event.
