CHENNAI: The DMK high command on Monday removed S Kalyanasundaram, Rajya Sabha member, from the post of district secretary of the party’s Thanjavur North district unit and appointed Kumbakonam MLA Sakkottai G Anbalagan as the district in-charge.
The new appointee, Anbalagan, has been a three-time consecutive MLA since 2011.
According to sources, the high command had to change Kalyanasundaram as there were a lot of allegations from the party functionaries against his son S K Muthuselvam, who is the party’s Kumbakonam union secretary.
Local party sources said Muthuselvam was interfering with government activities in the region. Party functionaries were also reportedly upset with the father-son duo’s approach towards them and complained to the party leadership.
Another point raised by the functionaries was Kalyanasundaram’s age. They said, “He is 85 and the party leadership might have wanted someone younger to expedite field work with the assembly elections approaching.”
A DMK functionary from the district said, “Although Kalyanasundaram, unlike Anbalagan, belongs to a dominant caste, it doesn’t matter here much as the late senior party leader and former minister Ko Si Mani’s decades-long extensive work had turned this region into a DMK stronghold, cutting across caste differences. Anbalagan, a loyalist of Mani, is able to command the support of people from all communities.”