Karunanidhi with his wife Rajathiammal and daughter Kanimozhi on his birthday in Chennai on Monday. (PTI)

Chennai, June 3: The Prime Minister wished him. So did Sonia Gandhi. And party workers burst crackers to mark the occasion.

But birthday boy M. Karunanidhi, who stepped into his 90th year today, has little to celebrate.

Two of his sons — Stalin and Alagiri — are still squabbling over who would succeed the DMK chief. His daughter Kanimozhi faces trial in the 2G spectrum scam and he doesn’t have enough MLAs to even have her re-elected to the Rajya Sabha. To make matters worse, his 82-year-old wife, Dayalu, has been summoned to appear before the special court in the 2G trial.

“For someone who used to take pride that the DMK was an extended family, it is an irony that his own family is at the crux of his current problems,” said a party leader.

The succession issue has been a headache for the 1924-born DMK patriarch despite frequent indications that Stalin is the chosen heir. Karunanidhi, too, has done nothing to settle the matter by getting the party’s general council to endorse the choice. “If Stalin has gradually consolidated his hold on the party, it is due to his own hard work and networking and not due to Karunanidhi playing benefactor,” said a party MP.

The clash between the brothers has spawned faction wars down the line. Every district has seen local chieftains fighting one another to establish control. “The factions are the biggest ill plaguing the party,” an exasperated Karunanidhi had observed recently.

The in-fighting has also demoralised the cadres, which could spell trouble during elections, sources said.

Out of power in Tamil Nadu, and having walked out of the UPA, the DMK’s future strategy remains unclear. Manmohan Singh and Sonia both called to wish the former chief minister but the DMK is wary of realigning with the Congress for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The party feels its former ally has become a liability in the state.

Its attempts to court Vijayakanth’s DMDK have been unsuccessful. The actor-politician is unwilling to even lend the support of his MLAs for Kanimozhi’s re-election to the Rajya Sabha.

“The DMK has been weakened like never before as the average DMK worker is now convinced that only a small powerful select group enjoys the benefits of power. And this feeling hardens as the focus remains on Karunanidhi’s family politics. Unfortunately for Karunanidhi, his family has become the biggest bane of his politics,” said Thuglak editor Cho Ramaswamy.