CHENNAI: Taking the lead for next year’s Lok Sabha elections, the DMK on Saturday announced election in-charges for all 40 parliament seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Significantly, the DMK which failed to send even one MP to Lok Sabha in the 2014 general elections, has to prove its mettle in this elections. Accomplishing this task is more vital for the party as it is the first major election it has to face under the leadership of MK Stalin after the death of his father M Karunanidhi.
The team in-charges include former ministers, MPs, MLAs and senior functionaries- Subbulakshmi Jegadeesan, I Periyasamy, VP Duraisamy, Pongalur N Palanisamy, KS Radhakrishnan, V Mullaivendan, MP Saminathan, KP Ramalingam, Pon Muthuramalingam, TM Selvaganapathy, M Appavu, V Karuppasamy Pandian, TP Mohideen Khan, S Austin, Poongothai Aladi Aruna, AKS Vijayan, K Pitchandi, KPP Samy and B Ranganathan.
A party release asked the in-charges to coordinate with the respective district secretaries.
In Tamil Nadu, DMK is out of power for more than eight years. In 2011 Assembly elections, the party could win only in 23 seats and drew zero in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Again, in 2016 Assembly elections, the party improved drastically by winning 89 seats.
In the RK Nagar by-election, the DMK lost its deposit.
MK Alagiri, elder brother of Stalin, who was been expelled from the party, has been ridiculing the leadership of Stalin. So, the Lok Sabha elections will be a litmus test for Stalin to prove his mettle, it is pointed out.