CHENNAI: With the announcement for local body polls, the DMK has set in motion the process of scanning performance of local leaders before handpicking the candidates.
The party has asked the secretaries of divisional and area level units in Chennai to submit report cards to the organising secretary RS Bharathi before September 16. They have been directed to submit copies and originals of minutes recorded at the party’s local level committees showing their participation in party activities and events during the recent Assembly polls. This is considered as a key process to document the profile of the leaders before the selection.“The party will assess the performance and choose the candidates for the Chennai Corporation polls from among the local level leaders. So, they have been asked to submit their performance report,” a DMK leader said. Revamp of certain party units is also being mulled over.
As the direct election to the post of Mayor was abolished through a legislation, the party seems to focus more on the grassroots level to win a majority in the 200-member council of the Greater Chennai Corporation where the AIADMK wrested power from the DMK in 2011 polls. Buoyed by the success in the Assembly elections in the state’s capital, DMK leaders appear to be in an ebullient mood.
However, a section of the party is sceptical about it and think that the morale of local level leaders has drooped as it could not return to power, sources said.