Will accept Stalin as leader: Alagiri
Madurai, Aug 30 : Expelled DMK leader and former Union Minister M.K. Alagiri on Thursday said he will accept his younger brother and party President M.K. Stalin as "leader" -- if he was taken back into the party.
Alagiri had publicly stated earlier that he cannot consider anyone as his leader other than the late M. Karunanidhi, his father and party President who died earlier this month.
Alagiri was expelled from the DMK by Karunanidhi for anti-party activities.
Speaking to reporters here, Alagiri said the current leadership of the DMK -- a reference to Stalin -- was not willing to re-admit him despite his requests.
He said the DMK did not consist just of the General Council, which has elected Stalin as the DMK President, and that "genuine party cadres" were with him.
Asked if he would accept Stalin's leadership, Alagiri said: "If I am in the party, then I will." In a show of strength, Alagiri is preparing to organise a rally in which he says over 100,000 people would take part.
On August 27, Alagiri warned in Madurai that if the DMK leadership did not take him back, then its leadership will have to face "consequences". He did not elaborate.
Alagiri was opposed to Stalin becoming the DMK President. After the death of his father, he spoke in riddles claiming that the DMK would face difficulties if it ignored him.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
