CHENNAI: Vijaya Prabhakaran, one of the sons of DMDK president Vijayakant, maybe soon taking charge as the secretary of the youth wing of the party founded by his father, it is reliably learnt.
The move has evoked mixed response from the party functionaries though dynastic politics is not new to the State.
The elder son of Vijayakant made an appearance at the stage in an event organised by the party at Anakaputhur near Kancheepuram on Saturday last.
Though he did not hold any position in the party, he presided over the event and distributed freebies to people and addressed the cadre.
“I would like to guide the youth of the party and they must support us reaching the goals of the party to the people,” he said.
A few frontline leaders of the party that Express spoke to said Vijaya Prabhakaran was going to take charge as the secretary of the youth wing and would be addressed as ‘Chinna Captain’ by the cadre.
Vijaya Prabhakaran has been running a sports academy ‘Chennai Smashers’ and sponsoring a badminton team also. He had also acted in a few movies but has had no political experience so far.
The party functionaries who welcome the move opined that the entry of fresh blood into the party would act as a morale booster.
“It will give a moral encouragement to the cadre. Our captain is also not able to be active as before since he is not able to speak clearly,” said a senior functionary, referring to the entry of newbies in the principal opposition party, DMK.
However, there are a few who are not very happy about the move.
“One of the first planks of our party was opposition to the dynastic rule of the other Dravidian parties. But later Vijayakant’s brother-in-law Sudhish started interfering in the party affairs and after a while, he was made the deputy secretary of the party. Vijayakant’s wife Premalatha also started campaigning for the party even though she holds no post in the party. Now, if such an important post is given to his son, who has no political experience, it will only pave the way for other parties to criticise us,” said another functionary.