Dhinakaran might expel Tamilselvan from party, AIADMK says he’s welcome to join

In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections and bypolls in Tamil Nadu, TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK party drew a blank. Even their vote share was just 5.38 per cent. In Theni constituency, Thanga Tamilselvan, one of the 18 disqualified MLA’s, competed against Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam’s son P Ravindranath Kumar and lost by a margin of more than three lakh votes. He came third behind AIADMK’s Ravindranath and Congress candidate EVKS Elangovan. Since then, Tamilselvan had been keeping a low-profile. In these circumstances, reports about Tamilselvan jumping ship to AIADMK started to emerge.

Since Monday, the viral audio clip created turbulence in Tamil Nadu’s political circle. In an interview to Puthiya Thalaimurai channel on Tuesday, Tamilsevan confirmed that it was his voice in the audio that went viral. “I am an honest man, I requested the party to change certain things in its administration. In Nellai and Coimbatore, AMMK got destroyed by its own secretaries. I asked them to address these Issues and even said those in the media.  They didn’t pay attention to it and through social media, they started to spread false accusation on me. I got hurt, if I had done any mistake, the party could have sacked me but instead they did these petty things,” Tamilselvan said in the interview.

Following this, AMMK administrators met today at TTV Dhinakaran’s house in Adyar. After the meeting, Dhinakaran addressed the reporters and said, “Today’s meeting with party members was not an emergency meeting as the media reported, it was pre-planned. Party cadres have been complaining about Tamilselvan’s behavior. On 20th, I told him his activities are not aligning with the party’s principles and warned that he would be stripped off his post. I don’t have any fear to remove Thangam as he said in the media;  I will be meeting Chinamma (Sasikala) and then we will be announcing the new list of office-bearers including the new propaganda secretary on July 1st.”

When asked what prompted Tamilselvan to speak against AMMK, Dhinkaran said: “I don’t know, maybe someone is instructing him to say such things. You (media) have given him such hype and have destroyed his career,” Dhinakaran added.

Meanwhile, the AIADMK camp has welcomed Thanga Tamilselvan with open arms.

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said: “Except TTV Dhinakaran, Sasikala, and their family, anyone who left AIADMK can join again. The Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister have said this on several occasions. We have to be united, and as Amma said, our party has to sustain for another 100 years.”