Chennai: On a Monday morning at Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters, M.K. Stalin sits with his district secretaries, running through a checklist of campaign tasks. Ministers take notes, district secretaries nod in agreement, and Stalin keeps the meeting moving in step with his instructions. This is Stalin’s DMK today—a party in permanent election mode, built on welfare delivery, booth-level organisation, and relentless campaigning.
For decades since the 1980s, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin lived under the shadow of his father, former CM and Dravidian patriarch M. Karunanidhi, and was addressed as Thalapathy (commander) by party workers.
It wasn’t till August 2018, after the death of his father Karunanidhi, that Stalin was formally elected party president.
Seven years later, Stalin is not just his father’s heir, but the engineer of a new, more centralised, disciplined and welfare-driven machine, one that keeps cadres always on campaign mode, say DMK workers. In the seven years, he has shepherded the DMK through six consecutive electoral tests, including the local body elections.
From the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to 2024 Lok Sabha polls, DMK has won all elections it has contested, becoming the ruling party after winning the 2021 assembly elections.
“It was believed nobody would accept him. But Stalin came in a decision nobody could overturn. He reshaped the party’s structure for a modern age. Today, DMK functions like a 24×7 election machine. Earlier, we would begin work six months before polls. Now, under him, the party is in permanent campaign mode, like the BJP in the north,” says a district secretary in the western region of Tamil Nadu, who did not want to be identified.
But political analysts in Tamil Nadu say that while Stalin has proved himself an able leader of the DMK, he has been unable to keep the senior power centres in the party in check beyond a point.
“After Kalaignar, many predicted factions would split the party. Stalin has proved himself by keeping the flock together and tackling potential rivals. But he has not been able to fully control some senior leaders like Ponmudi and Durai Murugan,” political analyst and professor of political science Arun Kumar told ThePrint.
Other analysts point out that Stalin’s approach to politics is different from that of Karunanidhi.
Political analyst and Professor V.M. Sunilkumar told ThePrint that M.K. Stalin was running the party more like J Jayalalithaa ran the AIADMK. “The party used to be decentralised during the Kalaignar era, where each district secretary held strong powers at the regional level. However, Stalin has concentrated the powers into the party headquarters. This is how Jayalalithaa ran her party,” said Sunilkumar.
While former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had the literary and oratory skills to attract people, DMK’s senior leaders say Stalin has kept the flock together with his “hard work”.
The party’s organising secretary and senior leader R.S. Bharathi recalled Karunanidhi’s praise of Stalin. “Although he is said to lack the literary skills that Kalaignar had, he has been compensating for it with his hard work and commitment. As Kalaignar said, Stalin means Uzhaipu, Uzhaipu, Uzhaipu (hard work); he has earned everything through hard work. Whether it is modernising the party or winning elections, it is all because of Stalin’s hard work,” R.S. Bharathi said.
Centralisation vs decentralisation
While Karunanidhi’s DMK was more decentralised with strong district secretaries functioning as local chieftains, and senior leaders wielding considerable autonomy, Stalin’s power structure is linear.
A senior leader at Arivalayam, DMK’s headquarters, said that key decisions were always taken by M.K. Stalin unlike in M. Karunanidhi’s time.
“In Kalaignar’s era, decision-making was often dispersed, with senior leaders having a say in running the party. In contrast, all key decisions rest firmly with Stalin, including candidate selection for elections, alliance negotiation and disciplinary measures,” another senior leader at Arivalayam told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
DMK organising secretary Bharathi said, “Every era needs its own leadership method. Kalaignar built a strong foundation of ideology and oratory. Stalin has built a modern party organisation suited for today. This is why DMK has become a party that is election-ready at all times.”
However, political analyst and professor of political science Arun Kumar said the centralisation approach would alienate workers from the party. “He (Stalin) sometimes appears inaccessible to ordinary party workers. In a cadre-based party like the DMK, that closeness matters. Only if he remains close to his cadres will it reflect at the ground level. This is the cost of centralising the party’s functioning to one person or to one power centre,” Arun Kumar said.
In fact, the concentration of power has left some senior leaders with limited powers. A senior DMK leader, who was a minister in M. Karunanidhi’s cabinet, told ThePrint that they had no choice but to accept Stalin’s approach. “Under Kalaignar’s regime, we were given a free hand, because, whatever we do, Kalaignar could control the damage. Also, social media was not this vibrant in those days, so it was not an issue then. But, now everything is under scrutiny and we have to face the heat from the party leadership,” he said.
The former DMK minister also added that if ground reports on his performance were not good, he would not be given a ticket to contest the 2026 assembly elections.
Modernisation of organisation
Sources within the DMK described Stalin’s style as “managerial”, as in he ran the party much as he ran the state government—through review meetings, reports, grievance cells, and structured monitoring.
“Stalin has moved DMK away from being just a mass-movement party to being a permanent election machine. He always keeps the cadre engaged and he keeps track of every activity at the grassroot level through apps and websites. This is how he has modernised the organisation,” a source in the party’s Chennai district unit told ThePrint.
DMK propaganda secretary E.V.M.P. Ezhilarasan, who has worked with both father and son, draws a contrast between the two leaders.
“Kalaignar used to write letters, address massive public meetings and conferences. His political career itself spanned 50 years, he was leader for half a century. Stalin is also following those traditions, but he is making use of technology in ways his father never did. For instance, in the membership drive, he demanded booth-wise data, every booth in every ward had to show membership expansion. That focus is new under him, and now DMK has crossed two crore members.”
Ezhilarasan added that Stalin was taking forward the ideological legacy of Kalaingar although he differed in his functioning.
“Kalaignar laid the foundation by keeping the party ideologically strong. He never deviated from that. Stalin is building on that, taking it higher with new welfare schemes and administrative delivery. As chief minister, he has shown how governance can deepen that ideological base.”
Analysts like Sunilkumar pointed out how Stalin has deputed political strategists for election campaigns and how there is an in-house political strategy firm, Populous Empowerment Network (PEN) which handles the day-to-day activity of the party.
“It is an important move in the modern day, as none of the regional parties have their own political strategy firm. It was formed after Stalin took charge as the president of the party. He doesn’t shy away from hiring political strategists for elections, which shows he is adapting to the modern day electioneering tactics,” Sunilkumar said.
Apart from the in-house political strategy firm PEN, DMK has also hired political strategy firm IPAC to work for the party in the upcoming election, apart from hiring Showtime Consultancy’s Robbinson Sharrma.
A source working closely with a strategy firm that works for DMK told ThePrint that it was Stalin’s call to hire multiple consultants to work for DMK to ensure a second term win.
“There has been criticism that DMK has never come to power for a second term after the 1970s. Hence, this time, under his leadership, he wanted to make sure that DMK comes back for the second term. Also, the idea behind hiring multiple strategists is also to prevent them from working for the competition,” the source added.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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