DMK to restructure district party units ahead of LS polls

CHENNAI: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has started work on reforming the party’s district units as a measure to strengthen its base on the ground, a senior party leader said on Sunday.

DMK working president MK Stalin appointed a committee headed by former union minister TR Baalu a month ago to suggest changes. Baalu said he submitted his report to Stalin on Saturday.

This is the third time the party is revisiting its organisation since 1969, when Karunanidhi took over the party’s reins.

Till now, the DMK appointed one secretary for each district in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

However, changes were made to district units after the party lost in the 2011 legislative assembly elections and the 2014 parliamentary elections. The number of district units was increased to 65 but confusion over jurisdiction remained.

When HT contacted Baalu, he said, “As per the directions of Stalin and party general secretary Anbazhagan, I worked around a month to submit the report. And the party high command will take actions as per the report.”

“In order to sort out the confusions in the district unit of DMK, we have decided to restructure the district units based on the legislative assembly constituencies. As per DMK by-law 11 and section 1, we have appointed a committee headed by TR Baalu to execute the work. As the committee submitted the report to high command, changes will be done in the party’s organisation structure” DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan wrote in Murasoli, the DMK mouthpiece. Party sources said the new district units will be formed after merging 3-4 assembly constituencies.