Will contest for DMK president's post: Azhagiri

Chennai, Apr 1: The DMK succession row seems to get more complicated by the day as Chief Minister and party president M Karunanidhi's older son MK Azhagiri has now asserted that he would contest in an election for the post of party president.

“Ours is a democratic party. I will contest the president"s post if there is an election," he said on Thursday, Apr 1.

Suggesting his readiness to fight against his brother MK Stalin for the post, Alagiri said, “Currently he (MK Stalin) is the Deputy Chief Minister. I will contest the party"s president post in case there is an election for it."

This comes a day after Chief Minister Karunanidhi said that the party will decide on who will be the next president.

"No individual can decide who the leader of DMK is. In a democracy, every individual has the right to think who their leader is, but even I don't have the right to decide the leader. Only the party has that right," he said on Wednesday, Mar 31 in an interview for Tamil magazine Nakeeran.

Karunanidhi announced his retirement plans in 2009, since when MK Stalin has been widely considered as the successor.

However, the long-standing succession row emerged again on Mar 24 when Union Minister MK Azhagiri asserted that he will not accept anyone other than his father as the DMK president.

OneIndia News