Chennai: An emergency meeting of the DMK executive council on Tuesday paved the way for anointing M.K. Stalin as the chief of the party, ignoring the serious charges levelled against him by elder brother M.K. Alagiri after the death of their father M. Karunanidhi.

There was also an open call for Stalin to not only lead the DMK but also to sever ties "with those who have connections with elements trying to harm the party".

However, there was no resolution on the election of the president of the 70-year-old Dravidian party. A meeting of the general council is likely to be convened soon to resolve the issue.

Party spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan said only the general council was empowered to elect the president.

Although there was speculation that Stalin would be elevated as DMK president at Tuesday's meeting, no such decision was taken. Many DMK leaders, however, called for him to take up the top job.

"Working president, lead us as the party president," S. Duraimurugan, a top DMK leader who had been a Karunanidhi confidant for the past five decades, said amid cheers from party workers.

J. Anabalagan, another senior leader and MLA, openly called for disciplining "those elements who are working against the party". He wanted Stalin to end his association with such people.

"We see Karunanidhi through Stalin. The party and Tamil Nadu are behind Stalin," Anabalagan said.

V.P. Duraisamy, former Lok Sabha deputy Speaker, said Stalin had the "hearts of three top-most Dravidian leaders - E.V.R. Periyar, C.N. Annadurai and Karunanidhi" - and so none can defeat him.

T.R. Baalu, another former Union minister, went a step further by demanding that Salin be elected as DMK president. "The commander of the army (Karunanidhi) is no more. Nobody needs to say who will be the next commander. Stalin has all the qualities to lead."

Speaking at the meeting, Stalin refused to bite Alagiri's bait and maintained a dignified calm. He paid rich tributes to his father and spoke on how the AIADMK government headed by E.K. Palaniswamy had refused to allot a plot for burying Karunanidhi close to the memorial of Annadurai on Marina beach.

Stalin thanked the party's legal wing for the subsequent go-ahead from Tamil Nadu High Court for the burial at Marina. A resolution condoling Karunanidhi's death was passed at the meeting.

DMK sources admitted that Alagiri was not someone to take things lying down and expressed apprehension over his possible moves that could hurt the party in the southern districts where he holds sway.

Alagiri, a former Union minister and ex-south zone secretary of the DMK, was expelled by Karunanidhi in 2014 for his open dissent and criticism of the party.

Alagiri has made it clear time and again that he will not pay heed to the dictats of his father, who was a five-time chief minister of Tamil Nadu and president of the DMK for 50 years.

Alagiri and Stalin rarely see eye to eye since Karunanidhi virtually chose Stalin, two years younger to Alagiri, as his political heir, groomed him as the mayor of Chennai, cabinet minister, deputy chief minister and now the leader of the Opposition.

Karunanidhi also made Stalin the acting president of the party though such a post never existed earlier. Besides, Stalin is the DMK treasurer although it has been stipulated in party rules that no leader can hold two posts.

Karunanidhi chose to justify the positions of power given to Stalin saying the younger son had toiled and suffered for the party, including facing torture and jail during the Emergency.

Alagiri, however, had hardly suffered for the sake of the DMK. Rather, thanks to his father, he could become a Union minister in the UPA II government although he was a first-time lawmaker.

Alagiri has always felt that he had been discriminated against by his own father and has given vent to his feelings without restraint .Not one given to diplomatic gestures, he has never bothered about the niceties of familial relationships. Alagiri never missed an opportunity to criticise Stalin.

Stalin's efforts to strengthen the DMK in the southern districts had been resented by the elder brother.

When Stalin launched an "outreach programme", Alagiri called it a "comedy show". When the DMK failed to win the R.K. Nagar bypoll after the death of then chief minister Jayalalithaa, Alagiri had spewed venom saying that under the leadership of Stalin the DMK would not win even a single election.

Alagiri's latest allegation is that the assets and funds of the DMK are being "misused". Although he has not specified by whom, it is being widely seen as an attack on Stalin, who is the party treasurer.

Hardly within a week of the passing of Karunanidhi, the bitterness between the siblings has spilt into the open, signalling that a succession war is not far off.