Post Lok Sabha election results, Stalin to remove DMK District Secretaries who performed poorly

Chennai, May 18 (IANS) In a committee meeting held at the DMK headquarters ‘Anna Arivalayam’, it was unanimously decided to remove party District Secretaries who performed poorly in the Lok Sabha elections.

The DMK was again expecting a landslide victory in Tamil Nadu but it is clear that there won’t be a repeat of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in which the party and its allies won 38 of the 39 seats.

The DMK think tank recently conducted a detailed study of all the 39 constituencies of Tamil Nadu and found that though the party and the INDIA bloc will win comfortably on many seats, on a few seats the feedback is not good.

This includes Dharmapuri where PMK leader Sowmiya Anbumani contested as an NDA candidate.

Similarly in Theni, TTV Dhinakaran of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), again a part of the NDA, has performed extremely well.

The DMK-led front has also found that on a few seats the principal Opposition party of Tamil Nadu, AIADMK has also performed well.

It may be recalled that DMK President and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin had commenced his outreach work at the grassroots for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls nearly two years ago.

The party had appointed full-time workers in each district for co-ordination for the elections.

A senior DMK leader who was party to the deliberations, told IANS, “The DMK is a political party that believes in the grassroots strength of its cadres. We had been working for the last two years specifically for the Lok Sabha elections. While the party and the INDIA bloc have done extremely well in several seats, there are a few seats that did not do well and we may even lose them. Those responsible for this will be taken to task and the party has decided to axe District Secretaries where the INDIA bloc fared poorly.”

He said that the DMK has the exact figures and added that a micro-level study was conducted on the polls and the decision to remove party District Secretaries who did not perform was taken unanimously.

The DMK, it may be recalled, has been focusing on the welfare schemes of the Chief Minister ever since it assumed office in 2021. This was the highlight of the campaign in the state during the Lok Sabha elections.

The Chief Minister had already declared that the DMK-led INDIA bloc in the state would win all 39 seats, and if the front loses any seats it would be a setback for Stalin.

Joseph Thomas, a Chennai-based political analyst told IANS, “Before the Lok Sabha polls, the DMK leadership was confident of a sweep, but after the elections, the feedback the party received was not that good. The DMK will not win all the seats nor will it be repeating its performance of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

“The party will have to take action against someone for the poor show in some seats and naturally, the scapegoats will be the party District Secretaries who were in charge of each of the Lok Sabha constituencies in their respective districts.”

–IANS

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