DMK district secretaries may face the heat

CHENNAI: Heir apparent to the DMK throne, M K Stalin's political future lies in cleansing his party, his well wishers say. It's a time for taking some hard decisions, such as probably marginalizing senior district secretaries including former ministers K Ponmudi, KN Nehru, N Suresh Rajan, NKKP Raja and KPP Samy, MLA J Anbalagan, Tirunelveli district secretary V Karuppasamy Pandian, Poondi S Kalaivanan and a few others who have been facing charges of land grabbing.
Almost 50% of his district secretaries face land grabbing charges and little can be done to revamp the party if they continue in their positions. Party sources, however, point out that land grab charges will not be the only yardstick to decide if they should be removed.
Following pressures from the rank and file of the party, the DMK leadership has been keen on taking serious measures. In a move to convince the cadres as well as to retain the image of the party, the DMK leadership has formed a committee comprising six senior functionaries to clip the wings of a few district secretaries, who had been functioning hitherto as regional satraps. The committee includes former minister and MLA Thangam Thennarasu, advocate KS Radhakrishnan and SLT Sachidanandam.
The DMK patriarch Karunanidhi and defacto chief M K Stalin have almost prepared the blue print for the party rejig but they want the straightening out exercise - bifurcation of district secretaries' jurisdiction and undermining their importance in the party hierarchy –to be seen as the committee's recommendation rather than their own decision.
"Though many of our district secretaries are strong supporters of Stalin, he may not stop the leader (Karunanidhi) from taking action. Very few of them may be protected by him but their powers will be reduced. It is an effort to save the image of the party. This time our leadership is very firm, a former DMK MP said.
"People are not ready to accept criminalization in politics," Dr Pavanandi Vembalur, who teaches politics in Madurai Kamaraj University, points out.
The DMK front was pushed to fourth place in two constituencies in the Lok Sabha polls and came only in third position in seven constituencies. DMK cadres have been criticizing the district secretaries for the worst defeat. Such criticism was visible in open forums like Facebook and Twitter. "The district secretaries are the most powerful people in our party. Many have preferred district secretary post than ministerial berth. But their image loss in recent years has turned the voters against our party," said K Kalaivanan, a local functionary in Perambalur district.
Cuddalore district secretary MRK Panneerselvam, Ponmudy, Pongalur Palanichamy, Tiruvannamalai EV Velu and a few others have been facing disproportionate asset cases.
Though the DMK leadership alleged that the ruling AIADMK government had foisted cases against its leaders and termed it as 'political vendetta', people are convinced with the action since there were many genuine complaints, N Nandhivarman, a socio-political activist and writer said.