DMK youth wing event bats for Udhaya as deputy CM

Salem: The DMK youth wing conference in Salem began on a high note with the chorus growing louder among youth cadre to elevate sports minister and party’s youth wing president Udhayanidhi Stalin as deputy chief minister of Tamil Nadu. While the speculation was recently doused by both chief minister and DMK president M K Stalin and Udhayanidhi himself, the demand among party cadre grew more insistent on Sunday. The second youth wing conference saw the participation of more than a lakh cadre, many of whom expressed their wish to see 46-year-old Udhayanidhi’s elevation. The grandly decked up venue had a backdrop similar to the Mount Rushmore memorial in the U.S. with the sculpture at the DMK youth wing conference venue featuring the heads of Periyar E V Ramasamy, C N Annadurai, M Karunanidhi and Stalin with his right hand raised and fingers clenched. In the forefront stood a huge cutout of Udhayanidhi, holding the red-black DMK flag. “Udhayanidhi is young and energetic. We need such a leader to counter Hindutva politics,” said Salem district youth wing member R Selvaraj. Stalin made a virtual address earlier in the day, setting the tone for the conference, recalling the launch of the DMK youth wing and his own tenure as its president. He praised his son, Udhayanidhi, extolling his virtues as a leader and human being. Though Udhayanidhi’s political tenure is barely five years old, the conference, held just months before the Lok Sabha elections, was meant to showcase his potential, say senior party associates. T R Murugesan, an electrician from Perumbakkam in Chennai, who came to attend the youth wing conference, said it showcased Udhayanidhi's political efficiency. “It proved Udhayanidhi can easily take on the BJP and the RSS,” said Murugesan. Salem was deliberately chosen as the venue considering it is also key rival and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami’s home district. A sea of cadres dressed in black and red congregated on the ground where the meeting was held in Pethanaickenpalayam village, 40km from Salem. Udhayanidhi had his political christening in 2019 when he was appointed the party’s youth wing secretary. During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he created quite a flutter with his ‘brick’ campaign to highlight the delay in the Madurai-AIIMS project. Addressing the gathering, Tamil Nadu text book corporation chairman Dindigul I Leoni said, “We accepted Kalaignar (Karunanidhi), we accepted Thalapathy (Stalin). Now, we want Udhayanidhi as deputy CM.