Lok Sabha polls: TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK to join BJP-led NDA, assures unconditional support

Announcing his party’s alliance with the saffron party, Dhinakaran said the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) has assured the BJP of unconditional support.

“Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai and former minister Kishan Reddy spoke to me over the phone. I have promised them the AMMK’s unconditional support,” he said. (File photo)

AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran on Monday said his party will join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Announcing his party’s alliance with the saffron party, Dhinakaran, the nephew of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister late J Jayalalithaa’s close aide V K Sasikala, said the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) has assured the BJP of unconditional support.

“Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai and former minister Kishan Reddy spoke to me over the phone. I have promised them the AMMK’s unconditional support,” he said.

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Dhinakaran said they have been in touch with the BJP over the past six months and have already communicated their demands to the saffron party in writing.

“The BJP will definitely form the government. Everyone knows that Narendra Modi will become the prime minister again. The AMMK will work like a squirrel to help the BJP emerge victorious in Tamil Nadu as well,” he said.

Commenting on the seat-sharing talks, Dhinakaran said an announcement would be made later. He added that the BJP did not pressurise them to contest on their ‘lotus symbol’ and AMMK candidates will contest on a separate symbol.

When asked whether he would contest in the upcoming polls, Dhinakaran said he has not taken a decision yet.

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While replying to a question on whether the BJP has a secular ideology, the AMMK leader said, “The BJP may have an ideology that you and I may not agree with, but as far as I am concerned, the BJP is required in today’s time for India’s growth.”

The AMMK contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Social Democratic Party of India and drew a blank.

Janardhan Koushik

Janardhan Koushik is Deputy Copy Editor of indianexpress.com. He is a New Media journalist with over five years of reporting experience in the industry. He has a keen interest in politics, sports, films, and other civic issues. Janardhan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication from SRM Arts and Science College and a PG Diploma in New Media from Asian College of Journalism, one of the top ranked journalism schools in India. He started his career with India Today group as a sub-editor as part of the sports team in 2016. He has also a wide experience as a script-writer having worked for short-films, pilot films as well as a radio jockey cum show producer while contributing for an online Tamil FM. As a multilingual journalist, he actively tracks the latest development in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry utiling his well-established networks to contribute significantly to breaking news stories. He has also worked as a sports analyst for Star Sports. ... Read More

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