Chennai, Mar 1 (UNI) DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin turned 71 on Friday.
Leaders of various political parties, including the allies of the DMK, extended birthday greetings to him on the occasion.
Mr Stalin, accompanied by senior party leaders including MPs, Ministers, MLAs and functionaries,
paid tributes at the memorials of DMK Founder C.N.Annadurai and Party Patriarch and his father
M.Karunanidhi--both former Chief Ministers--on the Marina Beach Front.
After paying tributes at the memorial of late Dravidar Kazhagam founder, Rationalist leader and
social reformer ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy at Egmore area in the city, he visited the DMK headquarters
Anna Arivalayam where he was greeted by DMK cadres and other visitors.
He also sought blessings from his mother at his Gopalapuram residence after paying respects to
a portrait of Mr Karunanidhi.
DMK cadres across the State celebrated the occasion by organising various welfare schemes for
the people.
On the eve of his birthday, Mr Stalin, in an epistle to the party cadres, said the best birthday gift he
expects from them was the victory in all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the ensuing polls and unseat
BJP from power which would also be the fitting tribute to Kalaignar (as Mr Karunanidhi was affectionately called).
He said the Opposition INDIA bloc should win the Lok Sabha polls to defeat the fascist BJP regime at the Centre and put a full stop to communal politics.”
He also exhorted his his party cadre to gear up for the “democratic war” in which the BJP government ruling the Union should be pulled down from power.
The victory in the LS polls (39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry) will be the fittest tribute to DMK Patriarch and former Chief Minister M.Karunandihi on his birth centenary year and urged the party workers to work hard to achieve this goal.
The DMK-led Front, headed by Mr Stalin, had won 39 out of the 40 seats, including the lone seat in
the Union Territory of Puducherry, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and is eyeing for an encore in the
upcoming Parliamentary polls.
It had already taken the lead in holding seat sharing talks with its alliance parties and finalised it with its allies like IUML,KMDK,CPI and CPI(M).
With the election fever having gripped the state, an interesting alliance scenario is likely to emerge
for the polls with Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) of actor-politician Kamal Haasan expected to ally with
the DMK-led alliance, that has Congress, the two Left Parties--the CPI and the CPI(M)--MDMK, VCK,
KMDK, Tamizhaga Vaazhvurimai Katchi, IUML and Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) in its fold.
DMK sources said the seat sharing pact with other allies, including its key partner, Congress, will
be finalised in the coming days.
UNI GV 0910