CHENNAI: The constituency-wise review committees, constituted by DMK president M K Stalin to analyse the party’s defeat in the Assembly election, began submitting their reports to the party leadership on Wednesday.
The panels pointed to factionalism at the constituency level, resentment against the regional satraps and non-cooperation of alliance parties on the ground, among other issues as reasons behind the rout, sources privy to the reports told TNIE. The submissions will continue till Friday.
A recurring grievance recorded across constituencies was the conduct of the DMK’s allies during the campaign. “Party workers were frustrated with the allies, who did not cooperate with the DMK cadre on the ground. This issue came up repeatedly during the review meetings,” a senior committee member said.
The reports have also documented how rebellion within the party at the constituency level ended up aiding the opposition camp. Several functionaries who were denied posts or sidelined worked against the party’s candidates, and some had even crossed over to the TVK, the committee member added.
The review committee also stumbled upon numerous complaints against regional satraps in several districts, with the Chennai and Madurai regions accounting for the bulk of them, another committee member told TNIE.
One panel member who toured constituencies in Chennai said that the exercise was emotionally draining, with cadre waiting late into the night to depose before the panels. “At one constituency, we finished the review late at night and more than 100 workers and functionaries were still waiting outside.
We could not sleep because the party workers’ anger and their legitimate questions stayed with us,” the member said. The member added that the panels were particular about insulating the proceedings from local power centres.
“In almost all constituencies, we questioned the district secretary first and sent him out of the hall before continuing the review, so that workers could speak freely. It worked well and a lot of them complained about the district secretaries and their arrogance towards the ground-level workers,” the member added.
After the field visits, committee members spent days compiling notes, verifying documents and preparing constituency-wise reports before handing them over to DMK president M K Stalin.
Stalin, who held detailed discussions with the members during the submission, is expected to utilise the findings to firm up the party’s organisational restructuring, including the proposed expansion of district secretaries, ahead of the local body polls, sources added.