Nearly one month after joining the DMK, R Mahendran has now been awarded a top post in the party, and in conferring the post of joint secretary of IT Wing, the state ruling party eyes to have a political turning point in the western region of Tamil Nadu. R Mahendran was serving as the Vice-President of Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam party and he had quitted the party aftermath of the dispute that emerged in wake of the defeat in the state assembly polls. 

Mahendran has been enjoying a stronghold in the Coimbatore district and he contested from the Singanallur constituency while Kamal Haasan contested from the Coimbatore South constituency in the assembly polls. Makkal Needhi Maiam had eventually faced a debacle in the polls and within days of defeat, the party has caught up with furore over the tussle between the leaders. Mahendran had apparently said that there is no democracy in the party and accused a poll consultant of dominating the party. 

However, Kamal Haasan went on to call Mahendran, one of his loyal aides, a traitor and fueled the furore. Shocked by Kamal's statement, Mahendran said that he will step down from the post and quit the party. He then exited the party and several exits followed him. Some of the notable leaders of Makkal Needhi Maiam including Santhosh Babu and Padma Priya had exited the party. While Santhosh Babu had stayed off from active politics, Mahendran and Padma Priya had moved towards joining the DMK.

Mahendran joined the DMK on July 8 in the presence of DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. Along with Mahendran, 11,000 cadres from Makkal Needhi Maiam had joined the DMK. Mahendran had presented MK Stalin with a member booklet of 11,000 functionaries who switched from MNM to DMK. While addressing the newly joined functionaries, MK Stalin said, "Had Mahendran joined before the assembly election, DMK would have won with a huge majority in Coimbatore and Kongu region." 

He further added, "Although we were able to win the Assembly election and formed a government, I still worry about our performance in the Kongu region. As Mahendran has joined us now, we will be able to perform better in the region." Nearly one month after joining the party, Mahendran has now been appointed as the joint secretary of DMK's IT Wing. In a release on Saturday, DMK General Secretary Duraimurugan has said that Mahendran has been appointed as the joint secretary of the IT wing. 

On the front of how Mahendran's induction and appointment to the top post would help the DMK, Mahendran has a stronghold in Coimbatore and other western districts. In the recently-held assembly polls, DMK had braced a setback from western districts as it has lost most of the constituencies in these districts. Moreover, DMK hasn't won even a single seat in Coimbatore as the seats were entirely swept by the ADMK-BJP alliance. It was these disappointing results that let the DMK settled down for seats less than its target. 

It must be noted that Mahendran is one of the wealthiest candidates in Tamil Nadu assembly polls and Stalin has aimed to strengthen the party in the western belt through Mahendran. MK Stalin aims to collapse the vote bank for ADMK in the region before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The reports say that Stalin would task Mahendran to attract more members from the western region to the party and to launch counterattacks against the ADMK, BJP, and critics of the DMK through social media, being the joint secretary of the DMK's IT Wing.