Chennai, August 28: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president M K Stalin is all set to be elevated as the party president at the party’s General Council meeting in Chennai on Tuesday. Stalin has been chosen the political heir of his late father M Karunanidhi and former party chief. Stalin was appointed ‘working president’ of the party in 2017 and has been managing the party for more than a year now. Stalin's journey in the party began early when he campaigned in the 1967 elections as a 14-year-old school student. He became the party's youth-wing secretary in 1984.

On Sunday, Stalin filed nomination for the post of president, which has been lying vacant after the demise of his father M Karunanidhi on 7 August. He had filed his nomination for the post at Anna Arivalayam, the party headquarters, in Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, senior leader and party principal secretary Duraimurugan filed the nomination for the post of treasurer, hitherto held by Stalin.

On August 20, DMK General Secretary K. Anbazhagan said in a statement that the General Council would meet at the party headquarters to elect a new President and the Treasurer. Stalin would be the second president of the DMK, after his father Karunanidhi, who breathed his last on August 7 in Chennai's Kauvery hospital. The Tamil Nadu government had announced a seven-day period of mourning to pay respects to the DMK Chief.

According to a report by PTI, the sibling rivalry between Stalin and his elder brother M K Alagiri surfaced, when the latter claimed that true loyalists of Karunanidhi were with him.  Alagiri, who was expelled from the party by Karunanidhi in 2014, has been questioning the leadership of Stalin. He has announced he would lead a peace rally in Chennai on September 5, to the mausoleum of Karunanidhi.  Stalin, the younger son of Karunanidhi, had held several party posts, including that of treasurer and youth-wing secretary.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 28, 2018 09:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).