Why DMK choose Madurai as venue for general council meeting

MADURAI: DMK's choice of Madurai for the general council meeting after 48 years, chief minister M K Stalin's colourful road show and his meeting with elder brother M K Alagiri all point to the party's renewed focus on south Tamil Nadu.There are reasons for DMK's south push. The AIADMK-BJP front looks stronger than before after Nainar Nagenthran, a native of Tirunelveli with local heft, became BJP state president. In addition, ousted AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam and AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran too have considerable sway over voters, particularly thevars who form a sizeable votebank in the south.AMMK's inroads into the AIADMK vote share in 2021 assembly polls helped DMK win several seats.

DMK is wary that this may not happen in 2026 as TTV would be part of the BJP- AIADMK front."It has been a long time since we held the GC in Madurai. DMK's performance in the southern districts was satisfactory in the 2021 assembly elections. This time (2026 polls) we wish to further improve our performance in the southern districts," DMK organising secretary R S Bharathi told TOI.Speaking about the significance of choosing Madurai for conducting the general council meeting, CM Stalin, while addressing the functionaries during the meeting said, "This is the seventh time we are holding the general council meeting in Madurai, and it will serve as the stepping stone to our seventh victory in the state assembly elections."

This was also the first to be conducted outside Chennai after Stalin became party president. The last time the GC was held outside Chennai was in Coimbatore in 2011."Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election we organised a mega public meeting in Coimbatore since we wanted to win all the seats in western TN. Now we want to revitalise our rank and file in Madurai and down south. Hence, the temple city was chosen," said a party functionary. It was part of the southern push that dairy development minister T Mano Thangaraj who was sacked from the post last year was reinducted into cabinet a month ago, he said. Yet another objective is to iron out internal feuds. Stalin calling on Alagiri might have signalled the end of the once intense factional rivalry in DMK, but the party is grappling with factionalism at local level in southern districts. Tirunelveli DMK mayor P M Saravanan has a running feud with his own party councillors.

In Madurai corporation too, the mayor's husband P Ponvasanth had to be suspended a few days back for anti party activities. Stalin hopes the synergy generated by the general council would repair the rifts.While there was speculation that Alagiri might return back to action after his meeting with Stalin, party insiders said the chances of remote. "Neither is Alagiri in a mood to carry out party work, nor is thalaivar inclined to give him party post," said a senior party functionary.