M. K. Alagiri

Alagiri
Former Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
In office 13 June 2009 – 20 March 2013
Preceded by	Ram Vilas Paswan
Succeeded by	Srikant Kumar Jena
Constituency	Madurai
Personal details
Born	30 January 1951 Tamil Nadu
Political party	Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (until March 2014)
Spouse(s)	Kanthi
Children	Dayanidhi Azhagiri Kayalvizhi
Residence	Madurai
As of 13 June, 2009

Muthuvel Karunanidhi Azhagiri (born 30 January 1951), commonly known as M. K. Alagiri, is an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu and was a Cabinet Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers from 13 June 2009 – 20 March 2013. He is the second son of the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and the head of Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, Karunanidhi and his second wife Dayalu Ammal.

Early life

Karunanidhi family tree

Azhagiri is the second son of former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and leader of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Karunanidhi and his second wife Dayalu Ammal. He is believed to have spent his early life under the tutelage of his father and after his marriage on 10 December 1972, settled in Madurai. His wife is Kanthi Azhagiri and the pair have two children, a daughter, Kayalvizhi, and a son, Dayanidhi Azhagiri. Azhagiri graduated from the Presidency College in Chennai with a BA degree.

Role in DMK

MK Stalin, the younger brother of Azhagiri

Karunanidhi always appeared to prefer his younger son, M. K. Stalin, former mayor of Chennai and former Deputy Chief minister of Tamil Nadu, for succeeding him as the leader of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)^[1] Azhagiri shifted his base to Madurai during 1989 and did not hold any post officially in the party. In spite of holding no posts, he was all in command in the Madurai region and senior leaders in the party were unhappy about the factionalism created within the party. The DMK general secretary, K Anbazhagan, in 2001, directed the party men to have any contact with Azhagiri. During the period of 2008, Azhagiri was instrumental in the party winning three by-elections, the notable of which was Thirumangalam, where the party won with a massive difference. Based on the victory, Azhagiri was appointed as the organizing secretary of the party for southern districts.^[2] Following the by-poll victories in the state, Azhagiri was given the ticket for Madurai Lok Sabha Constituency in 2009 general elections, which he won eventually and later went on to become a cabinet minister.^[3]

There were widespread fights between the supporters of Azhagiri and Stalin frequently. The succession crisis came out to a peak when party members loyal to Azhagiri attacked the Madurai office of Dinakaran and set it to fire, in which three staff were killed. Dinakaran is a part of the Sun TV group owned by Kalanidhi Maran (son of Murasoli Maran), the grand-nephew of Karunanidhi. The newspaper published a higher prominence for Stalin over Azhagiri.^[4]

He was removed from the DMK party as member and as Secretary, South Zone on 24 January 2014.^[5]

Elections contested

Year	Constituency	Result	Vote percentage	Opposition Candidate	Opposition Party	Opposition vote percentage
2009	Madurai	Won	54.48	P. Mohan	CPM	36.67[6]

Controversies

Azhagiri's name is associated with various controversies including conspiring in the murder of the former DMK Minister, T. Kiruttinan on 20 May 2003, initiating a cash-for-vote in Tamil Nadu for the Thirumangalam by-elections, attacking the Madurai office of the newspaper Dinakaran,^[7] and the Dhaya Cyber Tech Park land grab case. He is seen as the party strong man in Southern districts of Madurai. There have been various clashes in the state between his supporters and the ones of his younger brother M.K.Stalin over the question of succession and leadership of the party. He is also accused to inducing his strongmen in the party, who otherwise have criminal cases against them. Azhagiri is alleged of instigating the attacks of popular Tamil newspaper Dinamalar in February 1997 when the daily published a criticism about him.

T. Kiruttinan case

Azhagiri was accused as the main conspirator in the murder of the former Highways Minister, Pasumpon T. Kiruttinan, on 20 May 2003.^[8] Kiruttinan was hacked to death by unidentified men while he was out for a morning walk near his residence in KK Nagar, Madurai. The next day Azhagiri was arrested on charges of conspiring the murder due to intra-party conflict, along with other accused, namely P.M. Mannan who later became the Deputy Mayor of Madurai city, Essar Gobi, Madurai Corporation councillor I. Mubaraq Manthiri and V. Sivakumar (also called "Karate" Siva). Azhagiri was held as the main accused and charged with criminal conspiracy, murder and abetment. The case was transferred to Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh after the DMK came to power in the state in 2006, based on an order by Supreme Court of India.^[9] He was acquitted by the Principal District and Sessions Court in May 2008.^[9][10] The Madurai Police planned to appeal against the order in the Supreme Court as of July 2013 after a gap of five years from the judgement of the lower court.^[9] A leave petition was filed in the Supreme Court by the state, challenging the order of the Chitoor Court in September 2013. The petition was quashed by the Supreme Court counsel, which ruled that the state of Tamil Nadu had no locus standi in the case as it was transferred to Andhra Pradesh and that only the government of Andhra Pradesh can appeal against the lower court judgement.^[11]

Thirumangalam by-election

According to secret cables revealed by Wikileaks through The Hindu, he gave away ₹5000 as a bribe to each voter through the morning newspaper in the January 2009 Assembly by-election at Thirumangalam and around ₹500 per voter in the 2009 Parliamentary elections.^[12] The by-election is believed to have started the cash-for-vote in Tamil Nadu.^[13]

Dinakaran attack case

In 2007 May, Dinakaran, the newspaper run by Kalanidhi Maran, the elder brother of Dayanidhi, ran into a controversy when it published the results of a series of opinion polls which showed M. K. Stalin, the second son of Karunandhi, having more approval (70%) than his elder brother M. K. Azhagiri (2%) as the political heir of Karunanidhi. It also showed others as 20%, possibly indicating Dayanidhi Maran and Kanimozhi. The Madurai office of Dinakaran was fire bombed by supporters of Azhagiri and three employees were killed^[14] The Sun TV office in Madurai was also attacked by the perpetrators.^[15] A day after the incident, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi came to Chennai for felicitating Karunanidhi for 50 years in legislative assembly. Daynaidhi Maran, who usually accompanies Karunanidhi on every function, discarded the event as a mark of protest. On 13 May, the DMK administrative committee empowered Karunanidhi to remove Dayanidhi from the party. This subsequently led to his resignation from the central ministry.^[16] Karunanidhi family started Kalaignar TV to counter Sun TV of the Marans that started focusing on opposition leaders who were voiceferous on Azhagiri and also covering the 2G Specturm Scam on minister A Raja, the DMK minister replacing Dayanidhi in the Union IT ministry.^[17] There were several attempts of reconciliation by the Marans, with two public meeting, once during Stalin's birthday in March 2008 and other during May when Karunanidhi was discharged from a Chennai hospital having been treated for neck and back pain.^[18] But when the Marans went to greet Karunanidhi on his 85th birthday on 3 June 2008, they were made to wait for an hour before finally denying entry.^[18] The family later reconciled with the efforts of Selvi, the eldest daughter of Karunanidhi and M K Stalin. While the reason for reconciliation is not known, it was rumoured that the family reconciled to keep the third wife, Rajathi and her daughter Kanimozhi away from the family – that Kanimozhi was missing in the family reunion picture supported this argument.^[19]

Land grab case

In 2011, a series of land grab cases were filed against Azhagiri's close associates and several of them have been arrested. It was alleged that Kanthi Azhagiri, the wife of Azhagiri bought lands worth ₹ 20 crores for ₹85 lakh from a lottery seller named Santiago Martin, who had 50 criminal cases against him. The deal took place soon Azhagiri became a central minister. According to the allegation, the family owned Dhaya Cyber Tech Park was built in a 4 acres (16,000 m²) land out of the 23 acres (93,000 m²) belonging to a temple in Uthangudi near Madurai. Azhagiri family refuted the claims stating that it is a vendetta politics by the opposing ADMK, which ruled the state when the charges were leveled.^[20][21] The family were cleared off the charges by rural police in September 2011 that ran the investigation.^[22] Subsequently, the Corporation of Madurai recovered 8 cents (0.08 acre) of land from Dhaya Cyber Tech Park on 26 February 2013, that were enchroached. The concrete wall, trees and lawn in the enchroached land were demolished by the Corporation officials amidst tight security.^[23]

Tenure as Chemical Minister

Azhagiri was appointed as the cabinet minister of Chemical and Industries in the Union Cabinet, following UPA victory in the 2009 Indian Parliamentary Elections. He won his elections from the Madurai parliamentary constituency securing 430,688 votes against his next competitor P. Mohan from CPM, who secured 290,157 votes.^[3] During his early tenure, he requested the speaker of Lok Sabha to allow him to answer in Tamil, while senior Lok Sabha officials wanted him to answer in English or Hindi following precedents. Jena, the State minister of the ministry, answered all the questions raised in the parliament on behalf of Azhagiri. There were protests by the opposition party members in the Lok sabha during the Budget session in 2010 over the absence of Azhagiri.^[24] In January 2013, the Union minister of state for the Chemical and Industry ministry, Srikanth Kumar Jena, accused Azhagiri of inaction as a senior minister, in the alleged misuse of government subsidies by the fertiliser companies. He accused Azhagiri of not responding to any of his five letters he wrote to his senior colleague between March and August 2012. In his letters, he complained that the fertiliser companies, in spite of utilizing one third of the subsidies provided to the farmers, kept raising the prices of the fertilisers.^[25] Following the irregularities quoted by Jena, there were allegations by certain section of media of a possible scam to an extent of ₹1,000 crores in the fertiliser ministry. There were also allegations of nexus between the corrupt official in the ministry with the fertiliser companies, who together dictated the government policy on fertilizers.^[26]

DMK pulled out of the ruling UPA on 20 March 2013 following widespread protests in Tamil Nadu against the central government for not taking up the concerns of Tamils in Sri Lanka in the UN resolution against the alleged human rights violation against Tamils by Sri Lankan government. Azhagiri resigned from his ministry along with other ministers from DMK.^[27][28] There was a brief controversy when Azhagiri did not accompany the contigency led by T.R. Baalu, the head of MPs from the DMK party, to tender resignation in the Prime minister's office and to hand over the letter of withdrawal to the President on 20 March 2013. It was claimed as a mark of protest against his father Karunanidhi's decision to pull out from the central ministry. Some sources claim he delayed his resignation as he was not kept in the loop while taking the decision. Following his resignation, Srikanth Jena was appointed the minister of Chemical and Fertilizers.^[28][29][30]

See also

• Karunanidhi family

Notes

1. "DMK’s sonny-come-lately". Tehelka. 13 May 2006. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
2. Mohan, Gopu (14 January 2009). "DMK creates post to reward Azhagiri". The Indian Express (Chennai). Retrieved 12 November 2013.
3. "GE 2009 Statistical Report: Constituency Wise Detailed Result" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 136. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
4. "Sun Network accuses Alagiri as being main culprit in Dinakaran attack". DNA India. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
5. "Profile of Member of Parliament of 15th Loksabha". Lok Sabha Secretariat. National Informatics Centre. 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
6. "Statistical report on General elections, 2009 to the 14th Lok Sabha" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 136. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
7. Vaasanthi 2008, p. 153
8. "4 DMK men held, Azhagiri role confirmed". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 28 May 2003. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
9. S., Sundar (25 July 2013). "Kiruttinan murder case: State to oppose acquittal of Alagiri". The Hindu (Madurai). Retrieved 10 November 2013.
10. "Azhagiri acquitted in Kiruttinan murder case". One India. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
11. J., Venkatesan (10 September 2013). "SC rejects TN’s appeal in Kiruttinan murder case". The Hindu (New Delhi). Retrieved 10 November 2013.
12. Hiddleston, Sarah (16 March 2011). "The Hindu : ‘Cash for votes a way of political life in South India’". The Hindu (Chennai, India). Retrieved 12 November 2013.
13. M.C., Rajan (16 March 2011). "Party is over for Alagiri and friends". India Today (Chennai, India). Retrieved 12 November 2013.
14. "TN: 2 killed as Dinakaran office set afire". Rediff. 9 May 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
15. Phandis 2009, p. 145
16. "DMK kicks out Dayanidhi, brings in Raja as Minister". CNN-IBN. 15 May 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
17. Outlook, Volume XLVIII, No. 51, p. 15
18. Outlook Volume XLVIII, p. 18
19. "Karuna’s Kutumbam". Indian Express. 31 May 2009. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
20. Mahadevan, Meenakshi (11 August 2011). "Case against Alagiri". IBNLive. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
21. "Gandhi Alagiri in Land grabbing". Truth Drive. 11 August 2011. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
22. Mohan, Gopu (5 September 2011). "Alagiri family cleared of land-grabbing charge". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
23. "Corporation reclaims land from Alagiri’s family-owned IT firm". The Hindu (Madurai). 27 February 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
24. "Minister Alagiri finally speaks in Parliament". NDTV (New Delhi). 5 August 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
25. "PM may be dragged into Alagiri-Jena tiff". Business Standard (New Delhi). 23 January 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
26. Khetan, Ashish (21 January 2013). "Now scam in fertiliser ministry? Prices, subsidy rise simultaneously, but Alagiri ignores his junior minister's warnings". India Today (New Delhi). Retrieved 10 November 2013.
27. C., Raja Mohan (25 March 2013). "Sorry chapter of M K Alagiri performance as Union minister". The Indian Express (New Delhi). Retrieved 10 November 2013.
28. Ghildiyal, Subodh. "Alagiri snubs dad’s confidant". The Times of India (New Delhi). Retrieved 10 November 2013.
29. "Srikant Jena Gets Alagiri's Chemicals-Fertilizers Portfolio". The Outlook (New Delhi). 20 March 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
30. G.C., Shekhar (20 March 2013). "Pullout snub miffs Alagiri". The Telegraph (Chennai, India). Retrieved 10 November 2013.

References

• Outlook (15 Oct 2008). "Outlook". Outlook (Delhi). XLVIII (28).
• Outlook (22 Dec 2008). "Outlook". Outlook (Delhi). XLVIII (51).
• Phandis, Aditi (2009), Business Standard Political Profiles of Cabals and Kings, Delhi: Business Standard, ISBN 978-81-905735-4-2
• Vassanthi (2008). Cut-outs, Caste and Cines Stars. Penguin Books India. ISBN 9780143063124.

External links

• The godfather of temple town, Tehelka, 6 August 2011