CHENNAI: DMK treasurer M K Stalin on Sunday said he wanted the party to work under patriarch M Karunanidhi’s leadership and guidance, while maintaining silence over the party’s chief ministerial candidate for next year’s Assembly elections.
Stalin’s statement came a day after Karunanidhi linked the possibility of him being the chief ministerial candidate with the welfare of the party. Referring to speeches by DMK members at a function to felicitate Stalin on Saturday, on the likelihood of him becoming the chief minister for the sixth term, Karunanidhi had said it was not the desire for a sixth term that propelled him, but the wish to safeguard the DMK, which was the only option for the socially and economically oppressed.
Karunanidhi also added that the desire to make Stalin the chief minister alone should not be the party’s objective and that the cadre should also work for the development of the Dravidian society and live with self respect.
A day later, Stalin, in his address to the cadre on his birthday here made it clear that his father could remain as the party leader and work for the welfare of the society and State. While on several occasions in the past, Stalin had asserted that Karunanidhi would also be the chief ministerial candidate, analysts saw in his latest statement a hint that he did not want his father to be the CM again.
Stalin said the cadre knew that Karunanidhi had been working hard for the growth of the Dravidian movement. “Crops require seasonal changes for survival. Many changes are needed for our growth also. People of the State are waiting for a big change in politics,” Stalin quipped.
“Karunanidhi’s foresight has provided maturity to youth like us and strengthened us for the works to be performed in future,” he said and added that the party should work under Karunanidhi’s guidance.
Stressing that nature does not discriminate between atheists and believers, he said the blood donated by a believer helps an atheist survive and vice versa. Reiterating his request to the party cadre for blood donation, Stalin said the workers should donate at least one lakh units of blood within March.