Power without post

Wed, May 14 03:10 AM

For his supporters, M. Karunanidhi Azhagiri is the "chief minister of Madurai". In some hoardings there, he is Lord Azhagar, the presiding deity of a famous local temple. His face adorned a 60,000 sq ft rangoli, which set a record of sorts. And a 100-page souvenir to commemorate his 57th birthday was released by a state minister.

All this for someone who doesn't hold a post in the party nor has renewed his membership, as his father and Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi declared when the sibling rivalry between him and M.K. Stalin, the heir apparent, was at its peak.

M.K. Azhagiri, the 57-year-old son of 'Kalaigner' Karunanidhi, claims he is merely a lower level cadre of the party-a claim no one takes seriously considering he controls the party's functioning in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu from Madurai.

"He is the son of the CM and more importantly, the latter listens to him," says a party insider.

For a man who shuns the media-he held a press conference recently after two years- Azhagiri has always been a newsmaker. His name did the rounds in a number of cases including one on video piracy, an attack on a vernacular daily in 1997, another on a local eatery, arson and killing of three employees of a Tamil daily owned by the Marans' Sun Group and of course now he has been in news on being acquitted for the murder of DMK leader T. Kiruttan by a court in Chittoor.

Though two senior party leaders opposed him in the Madurai region, Azhagiri strengthened his base there after being banished from Chennai following a worsening turf war with Stalin in 1989. Soon the leaders-P.T.R. Palanivel Rajan and Kiruttan- were reduced to mere dissenting voices.

Despite hailing from the first family of Tamil Nadu, Azhagiri worked against the DMK's interest in the elections. His displeasure over the list of candidates was said to be the reason the party was humbled in 2001. "The only reason for the support that he enjoys in the region is because he is Kalaigner's son. Because of the same reason, he is back in 'power' though he worked against the official candidate and the party. Though he was suspended, now he is back with more powers than ever. The electoral and other gains for DMK is purely due to the organisational capability and clever alliances, but the credit goes to this single person,'" say a few party leaders.

Though Karunanidhi once tried to distance himself from his son, he has now accepted him into the family fold publicly. In fact, some say the distancing was mere posturing. Now talks about Azhagiri returning to the state capital have apparently made party leaders, especially Stalin, nervous.

Though it would be difficult for Azhagiri to match the carefully managed public image that his younger brother has cultivated over the years, his hold over party workers is unquestionable.

But will that do the trick in the age of alliance politics? "None of the alliance partners have any personal relations with him but they will accept him because of the family ties," say his detractors.

Following the estrangement of the Maran family after they chose to publish a survey that put him among the lowest in public acceptance, many operators allege that Azhagiri was arm-twisting them to join a rival multi-system operator. He is also said to be mulling entering the media business space through a multi-system operator service. His entry into this lucrative business is seen by many as the beginning of the decline of the monopolistic empire that the Sun Group enjoyed in Tamil Nadu.

His supporters say that their leader is a people's man. His detractors say he intimidates and suppresses voices against him. For the enviable adulation that his followers showers on him, there is an opposite and even greater apprehension that Azhagiri generates in the minds of everyone who is not on his side.

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