Ahead of Assembly polls, DMK sacks four district secretaries; rehabilitates Masthan, Wahab

CHENNAI: In a significant shake up in the party organisation, the ruling DMK on Thursday sacked four district secretaries and created four new party districts.

Following the recommendation of Chief Minister MK Stalin, the portfolio of Khadi and Village Industries Board held by Milk and Dairy Development Minister R S Rajakannappan, has been allocated to K Ponmudy who has been re-designated as Minister for Forests and Khadi, a release from the Raj Bhavan here said.

The shake-up included rehabilitation for former minister ‘Gingee’ Masthan and former Tirunelveli district secretary Abdul Wahab, who was sacked last year. Social engineering was written all over the reorganisation attempt, with the party accommodating a Dalit, a Vanniyar, an ethnolinguistic minority in Nilgiris and two minorities with an eye on the ensuing Assembly polls.

According to an announcement issued by DMK general secretary Duraimurugan, MLA K Annadurai has been relieved of Thanjavur’s south district secretary post and replaced with Palanivel, who has been appointed in charge of the party district. Likewise, KM Raju has replaced the old timer P M Mubarak as the secretary in charge of the Nilgiris party district. Former minister TPM Mohideen Khan has been replaced by Abdul Wahab as the secretary of Tirunelveli central district. Also, MSK Rameshraj has stepped into the shoes of TJS Govindarajan as the new secretary in charge of Tiruvallur East district.

Mohideen’s age and infighting in the southern district were the motivation behind the rehabilitation of Abdul Wahab ahead of a crucial election year. The party has deemed it fit to entrust the responsibility of a district secretary to a member of the majority Baduga community (KM Raju) to improve its prospects in Nilgiris, where a mild slip in vote percentage was witnessed in the hills despite the party candidate A Raja winning the 2024 polls.

Another Dalit district secretary

Apparently trying to silence critics who have been questioning the party’s accommodation of scheduled caste members in key positions, the DMK appointed Ramesh Raj, a Dalit, as its secretary of the Tiruvallur East party district. In the same breath, a member of the Vellalar community (Palanivel) has been elevated to balance the caste composition in Thanjavur.

Two newcomers appointed to district secretary posts

Noteworthy among Thursday’s intra-party reshuffle was seen in Villupuram and Erode districts. The DMK high command has created a new Villupuram central party district comprising Villupuram and Vaanur Assembly constituencies and appointed as new district secretary its MLA Dr R Lakshmanan, who joined the party after quitting rival AIADMK a few years ago. A sulking former minister ‘Gingee’ Masthan has been rehabilitated as the secretary of Villupuram north, replacing P Sekar.

Similarly, a new Erode Central district was carved out with Bhavani and Perundurai constituencies. Former AIADMK minister ‘Thoppu’ ND Venkatachalam, who joined the DMK immediately after the 2021 Assembly polls, has been appointed secretary of the new Erode central party district. Considering the friction in the rival AIADMK camp in the region of late, the elevation of Venkatachalam would be a shot in the arm for the DMK in Erode.

Tirupur quadrupled

The balance of power in the DMK was completely altered in the industrial city of Tiruppur where the number of party districts has been doubled to four with the creation of new Tirupur East and West districts. State information minister MP Saminathan has been appointed secretary of Tirupur west.

Apparently trying to accommodate youngsters, Anna Arivalayam has appointed Corporation Mayor N Dineshkumar as the secretary of the Tirupur north district comprising Avinashi and Tirupur north Assembly constituencies.

Despite retaining minister P Moorthy and MLA K Thalapathy as secretaries of Madurai north and city party districts, respectively, the high command has sustained the suspense over the head of the Madurai south district head. Villupuram south district secretary Gowtham Sigamani, Selvaraj (Tirupur East) and L Padmanabhan (Tirupur south) were among the ones who managed to retain their party positions.