An emergency meeting of the Executive Committee was called at the DMK headquarters in Chennai with a single agenda - to pass a resolution expressing grief on the death of party president Karunanidhi.
The meeting was chaired by Stalin, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
After passing the condolence resolution that praised Karunanidhi and listed his numerous achievements, party leaders including Duraimurugan, T R Baalu and others expressed their support to Stalin and urged him to take up the party’s mantle.
“Working president and soon-to-become president, lead us and we will obey your orders,” Duraimurugan thundered.
Addressing the gathering, former federal minister Baalu said in a quivering voice: “The commander of the army is no more. Nobody has to tell who will be the next commander. Stalin has all the qualities to lead.”
Several district secretaries of the party also voiced their staunch support to Stalin.
Stalin, sporting an unshaven face, said: “I have lost not only my leader but also my father.”
Opening up on the subject publicly for the first time, he said he had pleaded with Chief Minister K Palaniswami to allot space at the Marina beach to bury Karunanidhi.
“I held the hands of the chief minister and pleaded for space. They did not agree.”
After the announcement of Karunanidhi’s death at 6.10pm on August 7, the government issued a statement formally refusing a burial space at Marina.
Praising the DMK’s legal team led by T Wilson, Stalin said they approached the Madras High Court late at night and won the case the next day.
Stalin said if he had lost the case, a situation would have arisen leading to his own burial next to Karunanidhi.
Yesterday’s meeting came a day after expelled DMK leader M K Alagiri, Stalin’s elder brother, asserted that “true loyalists” of Karunanidhi were with him and that Stalin was a poor leader.
Paying homage to Karunanidhi, Alagiri, expelled in 2014 for criticising party leaders, told reporters that he had poured his anguish about the party to his father and not about his family.
But as expected, the Executive Committee lined up behind Stalin.
The elevation of Stalin as the party president will have to be decided by the DMK’s General Council. The party has not announced a date for that meeting.
In other developments, Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said actor Rajinikanth did not know the state’s political history and was politically immature after he converted a condolence meeting for Karunanidhi to launch himself as a full-time politician.
Jayakumar also said that in his speech, the actor-turned-politician tried to woo Karunanidhi’s followers to his side.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader was reacting to Rajinikanth’s statement at the condolence meeting organised by the South Indian Artistes Association on Monday in memory of Karunanidhi.
The minister said it was not a healthy practice to talk politics at condolence meetings and Rajinikanth’s speech showed his political immaturity. “Movie shooting and meetings are not the same.”
Rajinikanth had said he would have protested if the government had challenged the high court order in favour of burying Karunanidhi’s body at the Marina beach.
“Would he have said such things during the lifetime of MGR or J Jayalalithaa,” Jayakumar asked, adding Rajinikanth’s political opportunism would not pay.
Rajinikanth also questioned the absence of the chief minister at the Marina beach for Karunanidhi’s burial when several other leaders were present there.
Jayakumar said space was allotted for burying Karunanidhi’s body near Gandhi Mandapam without showing any political vendetta.
