VZCZCXRO6718
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCG #0223/01 1900403
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 090403Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2373
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3765
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENNAI 000223 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KBIO IN
SUBJECT: THE SONS ALSO RISE: KARUNANIDHI KEEPS POWER IN THE FAMILY 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi 
consolidated his family's hold over the DMK party in the wake of its 
surprisingly strong performance in the national elections. 
Karunanidhi signaled that his son Stalin is his heir apparent by 
naming him Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.  At the same time, 
Karunanidhi installed his older son Azhagiri as a Union Minister, 
where he will be the DMK's power broker in New Delhi.  Regardless of 
whether these moves make for a smooth succession as intended, the 
DMK will be much weaker when the physically ailing octogenarian 
Karunanidhi leaves the political scene because neither son is 
capable of filling his shoes.  End summary. 
 
A complicated first family 
----------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Tamil Nadu's octogenarian Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, 
has a big family to take care of.  He has married three times.  His 
first wife, Padma, died young.  A son from that marriage, Muthu, 
remained estranged from his father for a long time, hobnobbing with 
Karunanidhi's political foes after an unsuccessful attempt at a film 
career.  Karunanidhi is still married to his second wife, Dayalu, 
with whom he has three sons (Azhagiri, Stalin, Tamilarasu) and a 
daughter (Selvi).  Karunanidhi also has an "unofficial wife," 
Rajathi, with whom he has a daughter, Kanimozhi.  (This sort of 
marital arrangement is fairly common among Tamils of Karunanidhi's 
generation, and it is not considered a potential source of scandal. 
He regularly includes them both in public events and official 
travel.)  The two live in separate houses in Chennai, and he divides 
his time between them. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Karunanidhi has long dominated Tamil Nadu's politics.  He 
is the unquestioned leader of the DMK, a regional Tamil party with 
no obvious ideology other than support for Karunanidhi and a desire 
to remain in power.  (It originated as part of the "Dravidian 
Movement" that opposed the domination of South India by Hindi 
speakers based in New Delhi, but this is no longer a burning issue.) 
 Its main goal is to retain control of Tamil Nadu, where it has 
generally alternated terms of government there with its arch-rival 
AIADMK.  Its secondary goal is to remain part of the national 
government, a goal made easier by the party's ideological 
malleability, which allows it to join national governments led by 
the Congress Party, the BJP, or almost anybody else. 
 
The Chosen One 
-------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Three of Karunanidhi's children are politically active: 
Stalin (Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu), Azhagiri (Union 
Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers), and Kanimozhi (Member of 
the Rajya Sabha, India's upper house of parliament).  It is 
generally accepted that Karunanidhi wants Stalin to succeed him as 
head of the DMK and as Chief Minister, but the rivalry between 
Stalin and his older brother Azhagiri is legendary.  Stalin arose as 
an early favorite, having been active in the party since the 1970s 
beginning by organizing its youth wing.  He gained widespread 
recognition in the state when he was jailed, along with other 
political leaders, from 1976-77 under the Maintenance of Internal 
Security Act, during "The Emergency" declared by Indira Gandhi. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Stalin had something of a thuggish reputation in the 
1970s, including alleged involvement in multiple sex scandals. 
(Many in Chennai still tell stories, perhaps apocryphal, of pretty 
girls being plucked off the streets and handed over to Stalin for 
his amusement.)  He matured and shed this image in the late 1980s, 
however, evolving into a genuinely popular politician, winning 
election to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly four times (1989, 
1996, 2001 and 2006), and serving as Mayor of Chennai from 1996 to 
¶2002.  He was also the state's Minister for Local Administration and 
Rural Development from 2006 until becoming Deputy Chief Minister in 
2009, a new position in the state's government created especially 
for him. 
 
Not so fast, says the big brother 
------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) Stalin's older brother, Azhagiri, recently named India's 
Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, remains a controversial 
figure.  His rivalry with Stalin is legendary in Tamil Nadu.  After 
years of feuding, Karunanidhi sent him in 1989 to the city of 
Madurai, hundreds of miles away from Chennai in southern Tami Nadu, 
ostensibly to take care of the party newspaper, but more with a view 
toward avoiding clashes between the sons.  In Madurai, he controlled 
DMK efforts in Tamil Nadu's southern districts even though he did 
not hold an official position of any sort within the party.  His 
conflicts with senior DMK leaders in Madurai created trouble for the 
party during Karunanidhi's 1996-2001 term as Chief Minister.  At one 
point, the DMK's General Secretary, evidently directed by 
Karunanidhi, even issued an order to party workers to avoid 
associating with Azhagiri altogether.  The feuding continued and 
Azhagiri reportedly worked to defeat many DMK candidates in the 2001 
 
CHENNAI 00000223  002 OF 003 
 
 
Assembly elections that threw the party out of power. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Azhagiri's notoriety extends past the usual political 
theatrics.  In May 2003, Tamil Nadu police arrested Azhagiri for 
criminal conspiracy and murder in a case relating to the stabbing 
death of T. Kiruttinan, a senior DMK leader and former state-level 
minister and Member of Parliament.  Prosecutors charged that 
Azhagiri conspired to have Kiruttinan murdered because he was 
challenging Azhagiri's control of the DMK's leadership in the 
state's southern districts.  Karunanidhi, however, claimed that the 
arrest was a political vendetta by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa (his 
arch-rival who had taken over in Tamil Nadu when her AIADMK party 
won the legislative assembly elections in 2001).  In May 2008, the 
presiding judge in the case acquitted Azhagiri and the 12 others 
indicted in the case, declaring the state's allegations "not 
proved." 
 
¶8. (SBU) At least one other major violent incident is linked to 
Azhagiri and his cronies.  In 2007, Azhagiri's supporters attacked 
and burned the Dinakaran newspaper office in Madurai, killing three 
employees.  The attack followed the paper's publication of a survey 
showing that Stalin was much more popular than Azhagiri.  Sixteen 
people, including a police officer, were charged in the incident. 
Azhagiri, however, was not among the accused. 
 
Money powers Azhagiri's southern successes 
------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Azhagiri's political fortunes truly began to rise after he 
helped the DMK-led alliance win three legislative assembly 
by-elections in a row in 2006, 07 and 09.  In addition to mobilizing 
an army of fully committed party workers, Azhagiri had the DMK pay 
cash bribes to lure voters on a scale never seen before in Tamil 
Nadu.  Even the DMK's opponents grudgingly admired the breadth and 
brazenness of Azhagiri's cash-for-votes distribution network.  After 
ensuring a DMK victory in the 2009 by-election, which was seen as a 
bellwether for the upcoming national elections, Azhagiri assumed his 
first-ever official position in the party.  Karunanidhi then gave 
him the ticket to contest to the Madurai Lok Sabha seat, as well as 
the responsibility to supervise the DMK's efforts to win the 10 Lok 
Sabha constituencies of southern Tamil Nadu.  The party went on to 
win nine of the ten constituencies, beating the multi-party 
coalition led by the AIADMK. 
 
Cabinet berth for Azhagiri, Deputy CM post for Stalin 
----------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) After protracted negotiations between Karunanidhi and 
Congress leadership in New Delhi, Congress ultimately allotted three 
Ministries to the DMK.  Azhagiri was sworn in as Union Minister for 
Fertilizers and Chemicals on May 28.  The very next day, Karunanidhi 
promoted Stalin to Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.  The twin 
promotions cleverly advanced Karunanidhi's plan to have Stalin 
eventually succeed him.  Stalin's elevation buttresses the 
widespread understanding that he is the heir apparent.  As Deputy 
Chief Minister Stalin will have responsibility for a number of 
portfolios that his father previously handled including the 
Departments of General Administration, Industries, District Revenue 
Offices, Minorities Welfare, Social Reforms, and Special 
Initiatives.  At the same time, Karunanidhi placated the volatile 
Azhagiri with the prestige and privileges that accompany his new 
status as a Minister in the central government.  Moreover, 
installing Azhagiri in New Delhi, more than a thousand miles away 
from Chennai, helps reduce the possibility of a clash over 
succession in the event the fading Karunanidhi dies. 
 
 
Daughter disappointed at being left out of Cabinet 
------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Another family member, Karunanidhi's grand-nephew 
Dayanidhi Maran, was made the Union Minister for Textiles.  The 
final DMK ministerial post was given to A. Raja, who kept his post 
as Minister for Communications and Information Technology.  This 
left Kanimozhi, Karunanidhi's daughter by his "unofficial wife," out 
in the cold despite heavy lobbying by her supporters.  Sources close 
to Kanimozhi told us that she remains deeply upset at being denied a 
cabinet position.  According to local journalists, she is expecting 
a promotion in the party to compensate for it. 
 
Will Karunanidhi retire soon? 
---------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) It is not clear whether his decision to elevate Stalin 
signals Karunanidhi's intent to retire from active politics soon.  A 
media contact told post that Karunanidhi has no intention of 
stepping down, but a source close to Stalin suggested the Chief 
Minister might retire in the near future.  After a spinal cord 
surgery in February, Karunanidhi has been in pain and 
wheelchair-bound.  Stalin's health condition is unclear:  he is 
 
CHENNAI 00000223  003 OF 003 
 
 
rumored to be suffering from an undisclosed ailment (allegedly 
intestinal cancer).  He visited London in June 2008, reportedly for 
a medical examination. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Karunanidhi's efforts to forestall a succession fight by 
dividing political turf between Azhagiri and Stalin will likely 
fail.  Azhagiri, who speaks little English and no Hindi, will have 
difficulty in the New Delhi political scene.  He is at heart very 
much a provincial Tamil Nadu politician, who will no doubt want to 
contest for power in the state once his father leaves the scene. 
This will put him at odds with Stalin, who compensates for his lack 
of charisma with a willingness to work hard and to listen to the 
advice of trusted bureaucrats and senior party leaders.  Stalin, 
anointed by Karunanidhi, is likely to come out on top because he is 
more acceptable than his pugnacious and rough-hewn brother. 
Neither, however, has the political acumen or rhetorical skills to 
fill the shoes of the father who has dominated the state's politics 
for four decades.  The DMK will be in for hard times whenever 
Karunanidhi finally does get out of politics.  End comment. 
 
SIMKIN