By IANS,
Cuddalore : Preparations are on in this coastal town for a key meeting of the women’s wing of Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK that is headed by its influential leader and Rajya Sabha MP M.K. Kanimozhi.
The daughter of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi will preside over the June 14-15 conference that is expected to draw some 500,000 women, Health Minister M.R.K. Paneerselvam said here.
Among those expected to address the gathering are the chief minister and senior members of the Karunanidhi cabinet besides Kanimozhi.
Kanimozhi’s brother and Tamil Nadu Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin, now in London, is also expected to address the meet.
The delegates will discuss issues related to women’s development, self respect, rights, and devolution of political and economic powers to women.
The Manjakuppam Thangaraj grounds in Cuddalore, awash with banners and cardboard cutouts of the chief minister and his daughter, is being decked up for the occasion.
About 3,000 police personnel will provide security.
This will be the biggest public meeting in Cuddalore town after the 2004 tsunami that devastated the coastal areas.
It will be also the first major political meeting for Kanimozhi, ahead of the the 2009 parliamentary elections.
In 1982, then chief minister M.G. Ramachandran launched AIADMK leader J. Jayalalitha’s political carrer at a public meeting in the same venue. The DMK meeting is widely seen as a launch pad for Kanimozhi to enter electoral politics, especially if she were to contest a Lok Sabha seat in 2009.