Axed DMK leader M.K. Azhagairi, son of DMK’s nonagenarian president and former Union Chemicals & Fertilizers Minister, has said that he was ready to return to the party the moment party president and his father M. Karunanidhi invites him formally to join the party.

It has been three years since Azhagiri was removed from the party.  Each year, it is expected that Azhagiri and his half-brother and party’s working president M.K. Stalin might ‘patch-up’ among themselves in the larger interest of the party but it hasn’t been turning out to be a reality. It is also reported by unconfirmed sources that Azhagiri may attempt to ‘split’ the party now as his father is not as active as he was in the past.

Azhagiri has been visiting Karunanidhi’s Gopalapuram residence frequently to meet and get his father and mother’s (Dayalu Ammal) blessings from time to time.  When he was in Chennai to call on his father last month, he even requested his 93-year old father to come to Madurai and stay under his direct care and attention.  It was again rumoured that Azhagiri might join the party very soon with Stalin’s consent.

Speaking to newsmen at Chennai Airport yesterday, Azhagiri said that his father was doing ‘very well’. “He would be returning to active politics very soon,” he said and while answering a newsman’s query, he said that he would definitely re-join DMK if his father invited him formally to do so.