The sibling rivalry in Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam escalated on Tuesday with its party chief M Karunanidhi saying his elder son Alagiri has talked about the "death" of his younger son Stalin, a charge the Madurai strongman dubbed as baseless.
Karunanidhi at a press conference at the party headquarters in Chennai said Alagiri spewed hatred when he remarked that Stalin would die in three months.
"He (Alagiri) has some unknown hatred against Stalin. Alagiri even said Stalin would die in three months. No father can tolerate such words against a son. As the party chief, I had to tolerate them."
Detailing the events leading to Alagiri's suspension, the DMK patriarch said Alagiri had been giving interviews to newspapers and TV channels against the party's General and Executive Councils' decision (about tie-up with DMDK), resulting in undesirable political fallout.
Hours later, Alagiri, suspended as party's South Zone Organising Secretary, in a rather emotional reaction in Madurai, said he would like to die ahead of Karunanidhi.
"His tears must roll on my corpse; president (Karunanidhi) should live well; he must live beyond 100 years," he told reporters.
Alagiri rubbished as baseless the charges levelled against him.
"Not even in my dream could I imagine such charges...Anyway...I take it as his greetings for my birthday..(Alagiri's birthday falls on January 30)".