As Congress moves away from 'family raj', DMK, RJD tighten grip on dynasty

At a time the Congress is moving away from family-raj, the first families in the DMK and the RJD are reinforcing their grip on their parties with the re-election of M K Stalin and Lalu Prasad as party chiefs on Sunday.

Lalu was elected unopposed as the national president for the 12th time at a meeting of RJD National Executive in New Delhi while Stalin, who assumed charge of the DMK after his father M Karunanidhi’s death, was elected as party chief for the second time without any opposition at a meeting of the party’s General Council in Chennai.

The re-elections of Stalin and Lalu were a foregone conclusion as no one else filed nominations for the posts and the results reinforced the families’ grip on the parties without any opposition.

The latest round of election of the presidents in DMK and RJD is in stark contrast to the one in Congress this time as the Gandhis have kept themselves away from the contest.

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The contest came as top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi refused to reconsider his 2019 decision – he and other Gandhis should keep away from the leadership position.

Despite demands from leaders and workers, Rahul did not budge and insisted that neither party chief and his mother Sonia Gandhi nor his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should be made president.

Senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor are fighting for the president post in the October 17 elections. Kharge, however, has the support of the Gandhi family though they have publicly claimed that they remain neutral in the election.

In the DMK, Stalin also promoted his sister Kanimozhi, a Lok Sabha MP, as Deputy General Secretary. Kanimozhi presently heads the women’s wing of the party and is the only woman leader in a position of power.

With his father Karunanidhi firmly putting him on the leadership pedestal, Stalin had not found it difficult in the party though a one-time No 2 in the party Vaiko had left it to form his own party. Toeing Karunanidhi’s line, Stalin is also promoting his son Udayanidhi Stalin as his heir and already has immense clout in the party.

Party veterans and family loyalists Duraimurugan, Water Resources Minister, and DMK Parliamentary Party Leader T R Baalu were also elected unopposed as General Secretary and Treasurer respectively for the second time.

In RJD too, it was a foregone conclusion that an ailing Lalu would be elected unopposed as the president of the party he found after splitting with the erstwhile Janata Dal. Lalu had earlier chosen his wife as Chief Minister when he went to jail in the fodder scam case, while he has now firmly established his second son Tejaswi Yadav as his political heir.

Tejaswi is currently Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and runs the party, as Lalu has chosen him over his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav.