Karunanidhi all but anoints Stalin his successor

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi on Tuesday said he will be the chief minister if his party wins the May 16 assembly election and forms government in Tamil Nadu and his son M K Stalin has to wait "till nature does something to me."

"Stalin himself doesn't want to become the chief minister. He wants the DMK president (Karunanidhi) to become the chief minister. I have never lost (an election) since 1957. Therefore, if I win, it will be the sixth time (as chief minister)," he told NDTV.

Responding to a question if he will pave the way for youngsters in the party in the event of DMK winning the elections, Karunanidhi asserted that he will lead the government if his party is voted back to power in coming elections and that DMK Treasurer Stalin was "among the first" who wanted him to be the chief minister.

Asked what he had to say to those in the party who wanted Stalin to be given an opportunity (as the CM), Karunanidhi quipped "if he has to get a chance (then) nature has to do something to me."

The issue of Karunanidhi passing the baton to a successor has been a subject of unending debate in the DMK.

Though Stalin has often been referred to as Karunanidhi's political heir apparent, with the party patriarch himself dropping enough hints, he still has not been elevated to the top post. He was the deputy chief minister in the previous DMK government.

Stalin has often found his Madurai-based elder brother M K Alagiri, who was expelled from DMK for anti-party activities, also vying for the top post.

At the height of power tussle in DMK's first family, Alagiri had once famously remarked that the party was not a 'mutt' where a senior pontiff could appoint a successor.