Kani or Udhay may be deputed to strengthen party in west TN

The DMK leadership, party sources privy to internal discussions, revealed that Women’s Wing Secretary cum Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi, who is currently in charge of southern region, is understood to be the hot favourite for the challenging job of dramatically swinging the party fortunes in the west.

Information coming out of Anna Arivalayam  suggested  that  the  party   leadership   had   deputed   one  of  its  trusted  lieutenants  to  study the miserable election failure in the western region, main-ly  Coimbatore  where  the  DMK  lost all 10 seats in the April 6 Assembly  elections  despite  securing  a comfortable majority across the state.

Stalin  was  learnt  to  have  sent  a team led by party legal advisor cum  Rajya  Sabha  MP  NR  Elango  to Coimbatore, where the team  had  held inquiries with functionaries   to   assess the poll failure, much   worse   than   2016  Assembly  poll  in  which  the  party  had  managed  to  win  at least one seat (Singanallur).

DMK youth  wing secretary cum Chepauk-Triplicane MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin  had also camped  in  the  industrial  town  post-polls to study the re-peat-drubbing  in  the  elections.

Grapevine  has  it  that  the  influential  DMK  youth  wing  secretary has planned frequent visits  to  Coimbatore  to  revive  the  party,  which  was   learnt   to   have   been   influenced   by   the  resourcefulness  of ex-AIADMK  ministers in Coimbatore, especially in the recent polls.

Inquiries   conducted  by  the  team,  sources  disclosed,  had  alluded  to  fears  of   some   leaders   that    a    few    DMK functionaries had close ties with  powerful  former  AIADMK  ministers  in  the  district,  which  cost  them  at  least  a  few  MLA  seats   from   the   district   despite   winning   the   Lok   Sabha   seats   there decisively in 2019.

A  highly  placed  party  source  unwilling  to  be  quoted  said  that  Kanimozhi   was   being   actively   considered  by  the  leadership  to  oversee  party  affairs  in  western  region,  where  infighting,  weak  organisational   strength   and   to   an  extent  caste  arithmetic  has  weakened  the  DMK  substantially over a decade and a half.

Though leaders were appointed in  charge  for  each  zone  for  the  April 6 elections (Central Chennai MP   Dayanidhi   Maran   was   in   charge  of  western  districts),  the  appointments being mulled by the DMK  leadership  would  be  meant  for long-term party resurgence.