Duraimurugan’s sudden meet with CM stuns Stalin

DMK circles in the know said the octogenarian had met the CM after his party chief had left the Secretariat. Though party sources said the meeting was more personal, the way it had unfolded had raised some doubts in the minds of the party workers. A DMK insider, who did not wish to be named, said that suspicion arose in the minds of party workers owing to the timing of the rendezvous. That the meeting had happened in the backdrop of his generous appreciation of a couple of AIADMK Ministers in the Assembly has kept tongues wagging in AnnaArivalayam.

The unusual bonhomie between the treasurer and the treasury benches has been drawing the attention of the leadership of late. Such meetings have only caused discomfort at the top level of the party. It would not have been a cause of concern if it had happened with the knowledge of the party leadership, said a DMK insider under condition of anonymity.

However, the meeting is not expected to strain the ties between top leaders or influence decision making during the ensuing general council to elect general secretary and treasurer. Like in the past, the treasurer would placate the president, the DMK insider added.

This is not the first instance when Duraimurugan has caught his party leadership off guard. Months ago, he got on the nerves of the DMK top brass when he had reportedly met a couple of BJP leaders secretly, again without the knowledge of Stalin. Curiously, the meeting was understood to have been motivated by a few legal challenges his MP son Kathir Anand faced during his election to the Lok Sabha then. Grape vine had it that a senior AIADMK leader had facilitated his meeting with the BJP leaders.

The party chief is aware that the meeting means no harm to the party, but it is the ‘secrecy’ attached to it and media glare attached to it that angers the leadership, a DMK senior requesting anonymity reasoned, before adding that such meetings were quite common and many MLAs do meet the Ministers. It draws unnecessary attention only when seniors do it out of the blue, he added.