Even a prince has limits, at least in public!

CHENNAI: In a State where sycophancy in politics has no limits, DMK youth wing secretary cum Chepauk-Triplicane MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin appears to be setting the new norm. The DMK ‘prince-in-waiting’ has set limits for adulation by his partymen, and that too in public.

Tired of his party workers of different ranks and influence using a range of adjectives to secure his attention (and appreciation), the influential Udhayanidhi has put an embargo on their choice of vocabulary. Speaking at a party function in a southern district a few days ago, he publicly instructed his party workers not to address him ‘Moonram Kalaignar’ either in meetings or through posters. The DMK scion clarified to his party workers that the term Kalaignar shall be reserved only for his statesman grandfather who had ruled the State for five times.

However, he was quick to admit that he had no qualms in being addressed as chinnavar (junior), a term used by party functionaries to describe the party chief’s son with esteem and fear.

But people who are familiar with the working of the DMK, at least since its return to power last year, have doubts about the extent to which Udhayanidhi’s decree could discipline the cadre. The buzz in party circles was that the son would achieve something his father had failed to do so. Stalin has been unable to stop his MLAs from singing paeans inside the State Assembly despite repeated reminders.