Stalin is Tamil Nadu's rising son

Chennai: MK Stalin, son of the new Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M Karunanidhi is closer than ever to being heir apparent.

At 82, the father is successful again. The success was crucial to the face of DMK that Karunanidhi has been grooming over the years. Stalin will be sworn in as a minister for the first time.

His political journey began in 1970's; was arrested during the emergency and later emerged as the party's youth wing leader.

He became an MLA first the first time in 1989, lost in 1991 but ever since then, he's won thrice from the Thousand Lights seat in Chennai.

Stalin's first real test of power was when he became the Mayor of Chennai in 1997.

He was made DMK's Deputy General Secretary in 2002, a post that made it clear that he was heir apparent. But he played a low-key affair in 2006.

In fact even now, he has been given a low-key portfolio as Rural Development and Local Administration Minister.

The party has consciously kept away from the issue of succession. Stalin himself has denied being the successor on every occasion.

"He (Karunanidhi) doesn't speak to me like I'm his son. He's my leader," Stalin says.

On the other side, the 2006 Assembly polls have also seen the emergence of Dayanidhi Maran as the face of the party. Maran is the son of Karunanidhi's nephew the late Murasoli Maran.

It's perhaps these two faces that many believe could lead the road for the oldest Dravidian political party.

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