The usual fanfare and festivities were absent on the 89th birthday of DMK chief M Karunanidhi in Madurai on Saturday. Union minister M K Alagiri left for Chennai to attend his father’s birthday function while the party cadre did not show much enthusiasm in celebrating their thalaivar’s birthday.
At a few places in the Madurai city, the DMK cadre were seen distributed sweets. But, in most parts of the city, the party cadre did not even play the customary party songs that used to one among the main features of any party celebrations.
While DMK treasurer M K Stalin has launched a website to wish his father Karunanidhi on his 89th birthday, his elder brother, M K Alagiri, had done nothing to bring glory to his father, said a senior party functionary who was disappointed over the arrangements for birthday celebration in Madurai, or the lack of it.
If it would have been the birthday of Alagiri, the party cadre would have celebrated it in a grand manner by displaying huge flex boards praising Alagiri. “But Alagiri’s loyalist are not bothered to do the same for DMK chief’s birthday,” said the DMK functionary.
The recent face off between siblings following the disciplinary action against DMK Madurai unit presidium chairman E Essaki Muthu for snubbing Stalin did come as a major setback for the party’s south zone organising secretary.
Though the party had reinstated Essaki Muthu, the situation did not turned normal in Madurai. Instead, the cadre were vertically split. Both the factions did not show much interest in the celebrations, said the functionaries. However, rural Madurai celebrated the DMK chief’s birthday with much pomp and gaiety. In many villages, the party cadre hoisted the party flag and distributed sweets .