Chennai: On the day he stepped into his ninth year as president of DMK, former chief minister M K Stalin announced restructuring of the party, increasing the district units from 77 to 110.Chennai will now have 10 district units instead of six, while Coimbatore, Madurai and Salem, which had three district units all these years, will have five units. The restructuring was done based on the report of a DMK panel formed to study reasons for the party’s poor show in the assembly election and recommend measures to strengthen the organisation.“No species or race that has not adapted to the changes of time has endured on this earth. Let the changes begin with us,” Stalin said in a social media post.Noting that he was announcing the change on the day he stepped into ninth year as the party leader, Stalin appealed to the party rank and file to support the restructuring, ‘which has been undertaken with the welfare of the party in mind.’“With your support, I will once again lead our party to victory,’’ Stalin said.According to the list released by DMK containing details of the restructuring, most of the newly formed district units will have two assembly segments unlike the past when each unit had three or more assembly segments. Sholinganallur assembly segment would be considered a separate district unit due to its sheer population.DMK’s district functionaries have been asked to demarcate smaller administrative units according to the new restructuring and send a report in 15 days. “The district secretaries of the existing units should convene general council meetings in the presence of a party representative to be sent from the headquarters. Based on the newly created district units, they should send recommendations to demarcate new town, union and branch units,’’ a statement from Stalin said.
