By-poll debacle: DMK sacks 120 office-bearers in R.K. Nagar

DMK, the main opposition party in the State Legislative Assembly, has sacked more than 120 local office-bearers of the party in R.K. Nagar where by-polls were held on 21st December last year.

The DMK, which is hoping to replace the ‘unified’ AIADMK as the State’s ruling party as and when Assembly polls or mid-term Assembly polls are held, suffered a humiliating defeat in R.K. Nagar at the hands of AIADMK dissident and independent MLA Dinakaran who romped home to victory by a huge margin thus defeating the ruling AIADMK’s Madhusudanan as well as the DMK’s Marudhu Ganesh.

The DMK not only ended up in the third spot but also forfeited its security deposit, thus suffering one of its worst losses in recent years in an Assembly by-poll.  Coming as it does after Stalin took over as the party’s working president a few months back, the defeat hurt the DMK more than it hurt the ruling AIADMK which conveniently blamed Dinakaran’s money-power behind security record number of votes.

DMK’s high-powered council met last week to analyze the party’s below-par performance in R.K. Nagar. It set up a committee under Chakrapani which submitted its report to the Council yesterday. Based on the report, more than 120 local office-bearers of the party in R.K. Nagar have been sacked from their respective posts. Most of the expelled office-bearers are from 14th ward. Replacements would be named soon.