DMK rejigs district units to strengthen base in Kovai, braces for 2021 battle

DMK high command has revised the composition of constituencies of the five party districts less than a week after the party principal headquarters secretary KN Nehru visited the textile city to iron out differences among functionaries there.

Going by Saturday’s reorganisation, Mettupalayam and Thondamuthur constituencies would fall under Coimbatore north, while Pollachi and Valapari (reserve) seats would be managed by the Coimbatore west district.

Secretary of Coimbatore east would call the shots in Sulur and Kinathukadavu Assembly segments.

Likewise, Coimbatore (west) and Singanallur constituencies would fall under Coimbatore urban (east) party district.

Goundampalayam and Coimbatore (north) would be a part of Coimbatore urban (west) district.

The reorganisation has been done based on inputs given by Nehru, who had elicited views of functionaries for a couple of days early this week.

DT Next had reported early this week that a minor reshuffle in the party organisation after Nehru’s review was on the cards.

Functionaries had levelled complaints ranging from non-performance to collusion with rival AIADMK leaders during the two-day review by Nehru who was deputed by Stalin to fix the weaknesses in the party’s western units.

The exercise was undertaken after Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee), which was engaged for 2021 Assembly polls, forecast a marginal slide in the party’s vote share in the Kongu region.

DMK had performed so badly in the region that it had lost nearly 80% of the seats in the west, facilitating the consecutive regime of the AIADMK regime in 2016.