MK Stalin has been elected as DMK President unopposed amidst threats by MK Alagiri

M.K.Stalin on Tuesday was elected as the DMK President unopposed at the party's General Council meeting. At the party's General Council meeting, DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan said Stalin was elected unopposed, as he was the sole candidate who had filed nomination for the party chief's post on August 26.

Stalin, 65, becomes the second President of one of the oldest political party in the country, a post held by his late father and five times Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi for 49 years amidst threats by his elder brother and expelled DMK leader MK Alagiri that the party will have to face "consequences" if he was not re-admitted into its fold.

The election for party President was necessitated after Karunanidhi died on August 7. DMK General Secretary K.Anbazhagan said that 1,307 party officials seconded Stalin's candidature.

Chants hailing Stalin as "Thalapathy" (Commander) rented the Kalaignar Arangam where the meeting was underway even as the General Council members cheered with loud applause. Senior leader Duraimurugan was also elected unopposed as the party's Treasurer.

The General Council, before announcing the news, condoled the deaths of Karunanidhi, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, former UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, party cadres who died in shock after hearing Karunanidhi's death, the anti-Sterlite copper smelter plant protesters who were killed in the police firing in Tuticorin in May and also the victims of the floods in Kerala.