Violence exposes family feud in India

MADRAS, India, May 10 (UPI) -- India's turbulent politics took an ugly turn when an opinion poll led to deadly violence and brought a state ruling party leader's family feud into the open.

The trouble began Wednesday in southern Tamil Nadu state after a poll in the Dinakaran newspaper said M.K. Stalin, son of state Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, is overwhelmingly more popular than his older brother and rival M.K. Azhagiri.

Protestors angered by the poll, which also said people want Stalin and not Azhagiri to succeed his father, reportedly set fire to the newspaper office in Madurai, the state's second largest city, killing three people.

On Thursday, Karunanidhi, who heads the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, condemned the deadly violence and called for a federal investigation of the incident, the BBC reported.

"It's a fight for succession," a local journalist told the BBC while commenting on the family feud.

Such violence is common in the state, where politics, as in much of rest of India, is deeply divided along caste and regional differences.