CM changes campaign plan, lobbies for son in Kolathur

CHENNAI: On Friday morning, residents of Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Kolathur, had a surprise visitor. In a sudden change of itinerary, DMK chief M Karunanidhi visited the area to campaign for his son and deputy chief minister MK Stalin.
The high-decibel campaign in the north Chennai constituency comes in the backdrop of a succesion war between Stalin and brother M K Alagiri and a temporary truce between the brothers.Karunanidhi was all praise for Stalin as he asserted that his son did not get the post of deputy chief minister easily. "He has worked for the state's development as well as the party's growth," said Karunanidhi, addressing hordes who had gathered to listen to his speech at nine in the morning.
According to DMK sources, Karunanidhi had not planned to campaign for Stalin and party general secretary K Anbazhagan. However, he changed his mind as he wanted both candidates to win by a huge margin, said a party leader. This assembly election is a crucial one for Stalin and could well mark the turning point in his political career. For only if the party comes to power can Stalin hope to become chief minister. When there were hints of retirement from his father, Union minister MK Alagiri had quickly ruled out accepting anyone other than his father Karunanidhi as DMK chief.
Karunanidhi also spoke about the time Stalin was arrested by the police under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency. "Democratic India faced a severe crisis in 1975, when internal emergency was declared on June 25, 1975. Various leaders of the opposition, including Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram were arrested at midnight and jailed under MISA," said Karunanidhi.
But the DMK government led by him in Tamil Nadu refused to arrest leaders and impose press censorship despite threats from the centre. "On January 31, 1976, a large number of state and district level functionaries of the DMK, DK and other parties, including Stalin, were imprisoned," said Karunanidhi, hinting at the sacrifices made by his son.
He added that Kolathur is not a new constituency for Stalin, who had allotted money for the area's development when he was Chennai mayor.
"Kalaignar changed his style of campaigning and did not attack opposition leaders. Instead, he focused on the DMK government's welfare schemes," said K Ravi, secretary of DMK in Kolathur. "He also praised Stalin and the work he had done."