Chennai, Sept 19: A crucial three-day conference of the DMK, a key constituent of the NDA, will begin at Villipuram today. DMK sources said the party was not in a hurry to snap its ties with the NDA and decide about its electoral strategy now as there was no immediate prospects of a Lok Sabha polls, yet the views of the speakers at the conference would be taken into consideration for deciding the party stand. This is for the first time in recent times that a major party event was being held without the presence of its master strategist Union Minister Murasoli Maran, who is undergoing treatment in the Apollo Hospitals here.
The programme of the conference had been tailored in such a way that it would pave the way for smooth change of guard in the party, which is imminent, the sources said.
DMK Deputy General Secretary and party supremo M Karunanidhi's son, M K Stalin, had been asked to preside over the conference, a honour which was normally bestowed on the party president.


Bureau Report