Karunanidhi hints at quitting Chief Ministers office

I will take such a decision in the near future.

Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi has dropped broad hints about retiring from public office in the near future a comment that triggered yet another round of speculation about his plans and the future of the party.

Attending the marriage of State Minister I Periyakaruppan in Chennai on Monday,Karunanidhi said in his inimitably circuitous style that the cadre would perhaps prefer him as party chief than the Chief Minister,a statement indicative of his future plans.

Noting that the cadres applauded more when Periyakaruppan was introduced as the DMK district secretary rather than a minister,Karunanidhi said the reception was the same when he was introduced as the party chief. I will take such a decision in the near future, he added.

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The patriarch had made a similar comment almost a year ago,which had prompted his elder son and Union Minister M K Azhagiri to state that he would not accept anyone else as the leader,a remark directed at his younger sibling,Deputy Chief Minister MK Stalin,whom many believe would fill Karunanidhis shoes.

DMK has had factional troubles between groups belonging to the two brothers which cost them heavily in the polls the 2001 election being a case in point. This time,with only a little more than three months left to go for the assembly elections,the party can ill-afford a repeat.