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DMK cadre hope Karunanidhi will flag off Namakku Naame 2.0 tour
DMK leaders have planned to get party president M Karunanidhi to flag off the second edition of Namakku Naame tour to be undertaken by their working president MK Stalin early next month. The leaders may have been inspired by Karunanidhi’s visit to Murasoli office last week.
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Even Stalin was understood to be keen on getting Karunanidhi to launch his state-wide tour, which has been scheduled for November first week. If party sources are to be believed, the launch of the rally was shifted to Chennai only to facilitate the nonagenarian’s participation. Originally, Stalin was supposed to start from Kanniyakumari, as he did during his maiden Namakku Naamey tour ahead of the 2016 Assembly polls.
Senior party sources, in the know of things, told DT Next that the senior leaders believe the plan, if it materialises, could further boost the morale of the cadre, who were buoyed by their leader’s visit to Murasoli office, and that too after he had even skipped last month’s Murasoli platinum jubilee celebrations.
A routine, he had religiously followed for the last six decades, Karunanidhi stopped visiting the party organ’s office ever since undergoing a tracheotomy procedure in the late 2016. “Senior leaders and cadre want him (Karunanidhi) to launch Stalin’s rally next month, but a decision could be made only after consulting his doctors,” said a party insider, who gladly recalled how his leader waved his hand at cadre outside Gopalapuram after returning from Murasoli office last week.
Should the five-time chief minister visit the rally venue next month, DMK cadre could be in for an even bigger surprise. The plan also includes getting Karunanidhi to end his 11-month long silence. Karunanidhi has not uttered a word since undergoing a tracheotomy in December. Even in the video grabs released by Anna Arivalayam, an otherwise eloquent Karunanidhi had hardly uttered a word.
Vice president enquires about MK’s health
Meanwhile, Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday enquired about Karunanidhi’s health. A statement released by the DMK headquarters said the Vice President inquired about the DMK chief’s health when the party working president MK Stalin had contacted the former over phone to enquire about his health on being discharged from the AIIMS.
Stalin’s tour will promote tourism in state, quips Jayakumar
Taking potshots at Leader of Opposition MK Stalin, Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said that the proposed version 2 of his outreach programme would aid in getting wide publicity for the state Tourism Department. Jayakumar reasoned that the DMK working president’s tour would get beamed by TV channels across the nation, fetching free publicity for the state.
“Stalin went on a similar trip prior to 2016 elections. Did his prospects get any better? Things will be the same. Stalin and DMK cannot stomach the welfare activities of the government,” Jayakumar said.
The Minister renewed the blame on the DMK over Mullivaikkal massacre in Sri Lanka in 2009, when the party was part of the Union government.
“Had the DMK resigned, they could have helped in saving the lives of 1.5 lakh innocent Tamils during the fag-end of the Eelam war,” Jayakumar noted.
As regards ‘dengue regime’ charge, Jayakumar maintained that the state under the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami was working towards mosquito control, the primary reason for dengue outbreak. He blamed the DMK of doing politics with mosquitoes.
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