Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Victim of inner-party feud?

By R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI May 20. Uneasy calm prevails in the DMK even as partymen are coming to terms with the loss of one of its senior leaders, Pasumpon Tha. Kriuttinan.

Cadres and leaders, who flocked to the party headquarters here on hearing the news, held that Mr. Kriuttinan was a victim of inner-party feud, while others disputed the view.

``He was a soft-spoken and a very balanced leader, who never lost sight of the party's larger aims. He did not have any serious rivals,'' said a functionary. But another said that it was the circumstances surrounding the murder, which made some believe the unfounded rumours. ``It is easy to pass this off as inner-party feud. But we will get to the bottom of it,'' said a former Minister.

The doubt that an inner-party feud could have led to the murder is raised by the fact that the party elections have been fought by all possible means this time, as the number of district posts has been nearly halved. Also, a series of recent incidents, including problems in the Madurai unit, indicated that the turf war between the DMK president, M.Karunanidhi's two sons, M.K.Stalin and M.K.Azhagiri, will be reflected in the polls. Mr.Kiruttinan has been identified with the Stalin camp. In dealing with dissent and organisational election-related problems, the party leadership has been repeatedly seen as "reactionary".

Mr.Kiruttinan, DMK member since his student days, was one of the few active old-timers in the south along with Subha Thangavelan and Shah. He was imprisoned for participating in the 1962 agitation against price hike and was active in the 1964 anti-Hindi agitation. He won two consecutive terms to the Lok Sabha since 1967 and was a Rajya Sabha member for a term from 1989. After the 1996 Assembly election victory, he was given the Highways portfolio.

Though political murders are not unknown in the State, senior party leaders could not recollect when a leader of such a stature and seniority was murdered last. There was none in recent memory, but one came up with the name of the former Tuticorin district secretary, K.V.K.Samy. That was about 50 years ago.

Long-time loyalist

``Normally, even in the worst of troubles, senior leaders are not targeted. Even if the trouble is within the party, score-settling is restricted to the local level,'' said a leader. For the DMK, as the Union Minister, Murasoli Maran once compared, a district secretary was like a district collector. And, Mr.Kiruttinan held the post for a long time — since 1984. He was elevated as Madurai zonal organiser later.

Mr.Karunanidhi said he did not know how to reconcile with Mr.Kiruttinan's death. Party elections in trouble-prone areas now stand postponed, the DMK flag will fly at half-mast as a mark of respect to the leader and all party public meetings will be cancelled for the next three days.

Senior DMK leaders, Durai Murugan and K.Ponmudi, left for Madurai. The party general secretary, K.Anbazhagan, and the treasurer, Arcot N.Veerasamy, will reach Madurai tomorrow. Mr. Stalin has left Chicago and is expected to reach Kiruttinan's native village for the funeral.

The Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee, conveyed his condolences over the untimely demise of the leader. A press release from the DMK headquarters said the message was conveyed through the Union Environment Minister, T.R.Baalu.

Among those who sent their condolence messages to the next of kin included the TNCC president, S.Balakrishnan, the MDMK general secretary, Vaiko, the CPI State secretary, R.Nallakannu, and the CPI (M) state secretary, N.Varadarajan.

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