CHENNAI: The Namakkal district unit of the DMK has set the ball rolling for elevation of Udhayanidhi Stalin, party president MK Stalin’s son, as the youth wing secretary of the party. The district party unit passed a resolution on Tuesday, urging Stalin to appoint Udhayanidhi to the post.
The reason cited by the district unit, as per a news report in the party’s mouthpiece Murasoli on Thursday, was that Udhayanidhi had “worked hard campaigning for the victory of the DMK-led alliance in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls.”
Party sources said more and more district units of the party will, in the coming days, pass a similar resolution seeking elevation of Udhayanidhi to the post that his father held for long. It was evidently clear in recent years that the DMK is promoting Udhayanidhi within the party as a prominent face. He was given prominent space in the party events. However, the district-level functionaries Express spoke to, said that they are passing the resolutions on their own and no instructions have come from the top leadership.
A senior party functionary from Namakkal told Express, “We want an energetic and vibrant leader for our party’s youth wing, to keep the youth folk of the party and attract new youth towards our party.” While he insisted that the resolution was a spontaneous decision of the district unit on realising the wishes of the cadre, he candidly said other district units will take a cue from the Namakkal unit and would soon pass similar resolutions.
Another district-level functionary of DMK said since Udhayanidhi is a known face across the State, he will be the ideal person to head the youth wing of the party. Though the DMK party has been criticised for dynastic politics, political observers say the move to promote Udhayanidhi, may be viewed critically only by the outsiders, not the party cadre.
If appointed as youth wing secretary, Udhayanidhi will be the fourth person from the family of the late leader M Karunanidhi, to be a prominent face in the party. Besides MK Stalin, Kanimozhi and Dhayanidhi Maran are two others from Karunanidhi’s family or extended family, enjoying prominent space in the party.