M. K. Alagiri

Muthuvel Karunanidhi Alagiri (born 30 January 1951), commonly known as M. K. Alagiri, is an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu and was a Union Cabinet Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers from 28 May 2009 to 20 March 2013.

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 Alagiri and they have three children, two daughters Kayalvizhi and Anjugaselvi, and a son, Dayanidhi Azhagiri.

Alagiri graduated from the Presidency College in Chennai with a B.A. degree.

Karunanidhi always appeared to prefer his younger son, M. K. Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Alagiri 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.

Azhagiri is accused of instigating the attacks of popular Tamil newspaper Dinamalar in February 1997 when the daily published a criticism about him.

His supporters like Nallamaruthu (brother of Essar Gopi) and Annadurai were convicted in Leelavathi murder, a high-profile political murder case involving murder of Leelavathi, a member of CPI(M) party and elected councilor of Villapuram.

The DMK general secretary, K. Anbazhagan, in 2001, directed the party men not to have any contact with Alagiri.

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, 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 was accused as the main conspirator in the murder of the former Highways Minister, Pasumpon T. Kiruttinan, on 20 May 2003.

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.

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 The Sun TV office in Madurai was also attacked by the perpetrators.

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.

During the period of 2008, Alagiri 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, Alagiri was appointed as the organizing secretary of the party for southern districts.

He was acquitted by the Principal District and Sessions Court in May 2008.

Following the by-poll victories in the state, Alagiri 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.

There were widespread fights between the supporters of Alagiri and Stalin frequently.

The succession crisis came out to a peak when party members loyal to Alagiri 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.

According to leaked secret diplomatic cables, he gave away ₹5,000 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.

The by-election is believed to have started the cash-for-vote in Tamil Nadu.

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.

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.

He is the second son of the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi and his second wife Dayalu Ammal and the head of South Zone of Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (up to 2014).

Alagiri is the second son of former chief minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi and his second wife Dayalu Ammal.

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