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‘Dynasty’ Munnetra Kazhagam? Udhayanidhi Stalin Anointed Heir To The Party Throne
Swarajya Staff
Jul 04, 2019, 04:53 PM | Updated 04:53 PM IST
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Tamil actor Udhayanidhi Stalin, the son of DMK President M K Stalin was appointed as the party’s youth wing secretary on Thursday (4 July), NDTV has reported.
This act is being widely considered as Udhaynidhi’s anointment as the party heir. The previous youth wing secretary of the party Vellakovil Saminathan had resigned last month citing personal reasons.
The post was previously held by his father and current party president M K Stalin for 35 years from 1982 to 2017. Stalin continued being the “youth wing secretary” of the DMK till the age of 63.
He was subsequently designated as the party’s working president in January 2017, and was unanimously elected as president after Karunanidhi’s death in August 2018.
The 42-year-old Udhayanidhi Stalin is currently the managing director of his family’s Murasoli trust which runs the party mouthpiece with the same name.
Unlike his father, he is not expected to face a battle for the party throne and the succession is expected to go smoothly. M K Stalin had to face stiff opposition from his brother M K Alagiri before the latter was suspended from the party by Karunanidhi.
“DMK is a family party and only those who can accept this can survive”, an unnamed senior leader was quoted as saying.
Other leaders though have rejected allegations of nepotism behind this appointment by claiming that Udhayanidhi has proven his mettle by extensively campaigning for the party during the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls where the DMK-Congress alliance won 37 out of 38 seats.
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