On November 15, Udhayanidhi Stalin, the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development (Tamil Nadu) and DMK’s youth wing secretary will launch a DMK youth wing two-wheeler campaign rally from Kanyakumari. The campaign will see 188 bikes travel 8647 kms to culminate in Salem on November 27. The DMK Youth Congress will then be held at Salem on December 17. This rally is also seen as an important precursor to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the state.
Meetings will also be held in 234 Assembly constituencies along the way and the riders are expected to meet around three lakh youth and invite them to the conference. Udhayanidhi made the announcement about the conference in August this year. He had posted on X (formerly twitter), “I thank the DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin for giving us this proud opportunity to hold the state-level conference of the DMK youth wing. From today, we will start working towards making this conference a historical one and a turning point in the political history of India.”
It may be recalled that TN CM M K Stalin had gone on the Namakku Naame (Us for ourselves) campaign across Tamil Nadu before the 2016 Assembly election. Udhayanidhi has been the secretary of the youth wing for the past five years and this time round, the youth conference is being held in Salem, which is AIADMK’s Edappadi Palaniswami’s (EPS) home district. The Kongu district is an area where the DMK doesn’t have a stronghold and this conference is seen as an effort by the DMK to make in-roads into EPS’ home turf.
Given that the DMK has chosen Salem for the conference, political analysts believe that the DMK is trying to strengthen its base in that region.
The youth conference is also seen as giving a boost to Udhayanidhi Stalin’s leadership and more prominence in the DMK.
