MK Stalin elected DMK president: 10 things you should know about him

MK Stalin was born on March 1, 1953 to Karunanidhi and Dayalu Ammal. He was named after the Russian leader Joseph Stalin who died on March 5, 1953 - four days after Stalin's birth.

DMK President MK Stalin. Image: PTI

CHENNAI: MK Stalin was elected unopposed as president of the DMK on Tuesday. His elevation comes amid threats by his elder brother and expelled DMK leader MK Alagiri that the party will have to face "consequences" if he is not re-admitted into its fold. Stalin is elected to the top post of the party about three weeks after the death of M Karunanidhi on August 7. Ten Things To Know About DMK President MK Stalin

• Born on March 1, 1953 to Karunanidhi and Dayalu Ammal, Stalin was named after the Russian leader Joseph Stalin who died on March 5, 1953 - four days after Stalin's birth. Legend has it that Karunanidhi wanted to name him 'Ayyadurai' - taking from DK founder 'Periyar' E.V. Ramasamy and DMK founder C.N. Annadurai.
• Like his famed multi-faceted father who entered public life at the age of 14, Stalin too started his political journey by becoming an ordinary member of the DMK at the age of 14 and campaigning for the party in 1967. A year earlier he had formed a youth forum: Gopalapuram Youth DMK.
• But Stalin came to public notice at large when he was jailed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) for opposing the imposition of Emergency by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He became the party's youth wing secretary in 1984 and continued to hold that post for a long time.
• But unlike Karunanidhi who did not lose even any of the 13 Assembly elections he had contested, Stalin lost twice -- both from Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai -- in 1984 and 1991.
• Stalin has won six Assembly polls -- four times from Thousand Lights and twice from Kolathur constituency. He made his debut in the Assembly from Thousand Lights in 1989. He was Local Administration Minister in the Karunanidhi government and became Deputy Chief Minister in 2009 and stayed in the post till 2011.
• With his aged father not able to move about much, Stalin launched himself as the lead campaigner for DMK in the 2016 Assembly elections, winning 89 seats and narrowly missing victory against the more charismatic J. Jayalalithaa.
• Stalin became the Leader of the Opposition. But the party suffered a shock defeat losing security deposit in the by-election from R.K. Nagar constituency in Chennai, a seat held by Jayalalithaa. The by-election was won by T.T.V. Dhinakaran, a rebel AIADMK leader.
• Stalin was the Chennai mayor in 1996-2001 and 2001-02. He was also the Minister for Municipal Administration in 2006 and later the first Deputy Chief Minister in 2009-11. He was also the party Treasurer till now.
• The Alagiri-Stalin rivalry has plagued the DMK for a long time but Karunanidhi kept a fragile peace. Stalini is married to Durga, a believer, and the couple have two children - Udayanidhi and Senthamarai. Stalin also had acted in two movies and in two television serials.
• Succeeding an illustrious leader, who was also his father, Stalin will also be under intense scrutiny and would be compared with Karunanidhi for a long time to come. It may take some time and some election victories for Stalin to come out of his father's shadows.

(With inputs from agencies)