CHENNAI/MADURAI:Moving swiftly to contain any damage the remarks of expelled DMK leader M K Alagiri and spokesperson T K S Elangovan could do to the party, party supremo M Karunandhi on Friday pointed to heir-apparent M K Stalin’s assertion that the party president would be the chief ministerial candidate for the 2016 assembly polls in the State.
Elangovan, for his part, tendered an unconditional apology to his party chief. District secretaries of the party rejected the views of M K Alagiri and alleged that he was acting at the behest of the ruling AIADMK.
Expressing his views in the party’s mouthpiece Murasoli, Karunandhi referred to Stalin’s view and and questioned the motive behind the survey that gave two names from the DMK for the CM’s post. He also took potshots at journalists whom he said were unnecessarily concerned about the survey. The nonagenarian also said that a section of the media was involved in a conspiracy against the DMK by according importance to M K Alagiri’s views on the subject and appealed to his partymen not fall a prey to it.
T K S Elangovan in his letter addressed to Karunanidhi apologised for giving an interview to a newspaper by “crossing his limits without maturity”. He promised never to repeat the mistake.
District functionaries of the DMK castigated Alagiri for asserting that the party’s future would be bleak if Stalin is declared the CM candidate. “When the DMK was in power, he misused his authority. Now, at the instance of the AIADMK, he is acting against the party’s interests,” said V Velusamy, north district party secretary, and G Thalapathi, party’s south unit district secretary.