CHENNAI: Reeling under the simmering factional feud, the DMK on Thursday suspended P V Kalyanasundaram, a staunch loyalist of M K Stalin, a day after he resigned as the organising secretary to press home the demand to announce Stalin as the chief ministerial candidate. Senior leader R S Bharathy has been appointed in his place, DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan said in a statement on Thursday.
Kalyanasundaram violated party discipline and brought disrepute to the party, charged Anbazhagan, adding that, he has been suspended from all posts, including the party’s primary membership.
Few days ago, Kalyanasundaram had reportedly sent a letter to the DMK high command, urging it to declare Stalin, party chief M Karunanidhi’s second son and heir-imminent, as the CM candidate for the 2016 Assembly polls. Charging Karunanidhi’s daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi and former union telecom ministers Dayanidhi Maran and A Raja — all of whom figured in the infamous scams of the telecom ministry — of bringing disrepute to the party, Kalyanasundaram had asked them to keep away from party activities.
“Those involved in cases like land grabbing should not hold any position of power in the party,” he had reportedly said in the letter.
This was seen as another attempt by the Stalin faction to put pressure on the party leadership to anoint him as the next party chief and CM candidate, well ahead of the election. An advocate and a former Chennai Corporation councillor, Kalyanasundaram has always been a Stalin loyalist. He was made the organising secretary and a member of the party high-level committee. The proximity even took him to the board of DMK-run Kalaignar TV when Stalin gained control over the channel.