Duraimurugan, TR Baalu, A Raja and K Ponmudi elected to top DMK posts

The leaders were elected unopposed in the DMK’s General Council meeting on Wednesday.
The DMK General Secretary Duraimurugan, DMK President Stalin and Treasurer TR Baalu during General Body Meeting
The DMK General Secretary Duraimurugan, DMK President Stalin and Treasurer TR Baalu during General Body Meeting
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DMK leaders Duraimurgan and TR Baalu were elected as General Secretary and Treasurer respectively at the party’s General Council meeting on Wednesday. DMK President MK Stalin made the announcement that the two leaders were elected unopposed.

The party also elected former Union Minister A Raja and former state Minister K Ponmudi as Deputy General Secretaries of the DMK. With their appointment, the DMK now has five Deputy General Secretaries including Subhu Lakshmi Jagadesan, I Periyasamy and Anthiyur Selvaraj. The party had amended its bylaws to allow five Deputy General Secretaries.  DMK Women’s Wing President and Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi, however, did not get any party post.

Ahead of the meeting on Wednesday, the party had called for applications for the post of General Secretary and Treasurer. 

The post of General Secretary fell vacant after former DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan passed away in March at the age of 97 due to illness. Then Treasurer Duraimurugan later that month stepped down from the post to contest for General Secretary. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Duraimurugan rescinded his resignation in June and continued to hold the post of Treasurer as the party’s General Council meeting had to be postponed.  

There were three contenders for the post for Treasurer, TR Baalu, A Raja and EV Velu. However, former Union Minister TR Baalu was the only person to file the nominations and get elected as the Treasurer. The move was widely criticised, with many allegeing that DMK was not ready to appoint Dalit leaders to top party posititions since A Raja was not allowed to file his nomination. However, on Wednesday, A Raja was elected as the Deputy General Secretary of the party. 

The DMK General Council meeting was held virtually since the Tamil Nadu government and the Centre has not permitted large political gatherings owing to the pandemic. The General Council meeting of the DMK was supposed to be held on March 29. However, the meet was delayed due to the pandemic.

 

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