Three DMK district secretaries divested of posts

Among those who have been shown the door are former union minister S Gandhiselvan of Namakkal and Coimbatore city (north) district secretary M Veeragopal. The two, said to be Stalin loyalists, were reportedly sacked for instigating squabbles within the local party units that contributed to the party’s drubbing in their respective districts. 

Veeragopal’ s fall should come as no surprise to the party rank and file since Meena Lou, one of the party candidates who lost by 7,000 odd votes, had publicly accused him of conspiring against her in the election. “I campaigned like an independent candidate. Veeragopal told me that he lost Rs 1 crore owing to my candidature,” she had told DT Next. Veeragopal has been replaced with M Muthusamy now. 

Likewise, failure to quell inner rebellion during polls has cost S Gandhiselvan his Namakkal east district secretary post, which has now been allotted to P Elangovan. Down south, Tirunelveli west district secretary P K Durairaj has had to make way for union secretary Siva Padmanabhan, said to be close to Karuppasamy Pandian. 

The appointment has raised many eyebrows in the DMK, for the party has put a Nadar community member in charge of Tirunelveli after over three decades. If DMK insiders are to be believed, more district secretaries will be given marching orders in the coming days. Meanwhile, DMK whip A Chakrapani has summoned the party MLAs to Anna Arivalayam for the legislature party meeting, which takes place a day ahead of the first full session of the 15th Assembly convenes.