Toe party line or be kicked out: Karunanidhi to son Alagiri

CHENNAI: Annoyed with son MK Alagiri for openly airing his opposition to an alliance with the DMDK, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday warned he would not hesitate to expel any one who did not toe the party line. At a time when the DMK has been actively wooing actor Vijayakanth's DMDK, Alagiri's remarks in an interview to a television channel on Sunday, dismissing the party as irrelevant, evoked a furious reaction from his father. "Alagiri's comments are not just regrettable but also condemnable," said Karunanidhi in a statement on Tuesday.

Strongly condemning Alagiri's statement, Karunanidhi said anyone found violating party discipline would be expelled from the primary membership. The DMK chief's warning is also seen as a strong signal to the DMDK that the DMK is more than just keen on a tie-up with the party for the 2014 LS polls.

Sibling rivalry in the DMK came to the fore once again when the party disbanded its Madurai unit, consisting of loyalists of Alagiri, on January 4 and replaced it with supporters of MK Stalin. In an interview telecast a day later, Alagiri said Vijayakanth lacked political decorum and an alliance with the DMDK was unnecessary. The DMK, he said, could win without such a political alliance.

"In my capacity as party chief, I had stated that I will be happy if the DMK and DMDK strike an alliance. But, the comments of Alagiri, which contradicts my statement, are not just regrettable but also condemnable," Karunanidhi said. "Those who make such unnecessary, contradictory remarks and go against party discipline, whoever it may be, will not only attract disciplinary action, but will also be expelled from the party's primary membership," he warned, adding that it applied to all DMK members.

"This was the case in the past and it will apply now and in the future as well," the DMK chief said. Moreover, it was up to the party executive and general council or the authorized high command to decide on alliance issues, he said. In 2000, when Alagiri had similarly rebelled and directed his supporters not to attend a party function, the DMK had issued a diktat asking cadres not to associate with him.

Karunanidhi's warning comes a day after Stalin snubbed his older brother in Trichy. Welcoming a possible alliance with the DMDK, Stalin, when asked about Alagiri's remarks, said he was not in the habit of reading or watching "irrelevant news". A senior DMK leader pointed out that Karunanidhi was upset only with Alagiri's remark about Vijayakanth. "It was unwarranted, especially when the party has been trying to get the DMDK into our party alliance for the 2014 LS polls," he said.