Family wedding unites MK Alagiri, MK Stalin, but calm may not last

Union chemicals and fertilisers minister MK Alagiri rarely comes to the capital. But on Thursday, he met several biggies in Lutyens’ with younger brother and Tamil Nadu (TN) deputy chief minister MK Stalin.

The two from the first family of the ruling DMK in TN put succession dispute on hold and met president Pratibha Patil, prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar to invite them to a wedding.
Alagiri’s son Dayanidhi is engaged to be married to Anusha in Madurai on November 18.

Stalin mixed family responsibility with official duty as he had primarily come for a meeting of the chief ministers’ group on consumer affairs. But politics is never far away at personal interactions. More so, since TN is getting ready for assembly elections next April. Congress being an important ally of DMK, such informal meetings at the highest level are seen as great facilitators in driving hard bargains in seat-sharing.

Alagiri’s is reportedly keen to lay his claim to the chief ministerial chair. So, the possibility that he may quit his cabinet berth after the wedding and jump into electioneering for the success of DMK in six districts of TN that are his stronghold and have 112 assembly constituencies is not ruled out. Alagiri has accepted the challenge to win at least 80 of these seats and sought an open contest for the chief minister’s post.