3 min readChennaiMar 6, 2021 12:26 PM IST
First published on: Mar 6, 2021 at 05:28 AM IST
The reason behind expelled AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala’s decision to withdraw from politics is a mystery. However, her move has left her nephew T T V Dhinakaran and his party, the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), in a spot of bother ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu.
In 2018, Dhinakaran had launched the AMMK as a result of Sasikala’s ouster in order to recapture the AIADMK from its current leadership, and Sasikala, after her recent release from prison, had no second thoughts in declaring her decision to campaign for the polls.
However, ever since Sasikala announced on Wednesday her decision to withdraw from politics, Dhinakaran hasn’t done much political work, sources close to the AMMK leader said.
“He was neither talking to other parties nor to senior faces in his own camp,” said a source. “It is a fact that AMMK received over 1,300 applications from people to contest in the upcoming elections. But all of them made those applications before Sasikala made her announcement to withdraw from politics. And Dhinakaran himself seems to have no plans right now. If he has to go ahead on his own, it is going to be a lone battle as there are no alliance parties left for him.”
A senior AIADMK leader said that Dhinakaran may be waiting for an answer from the RSS with regards to a possible tie up before announcing his next move.
“The RSS leadership in Tamil Nadu is talking to the BJP central leadership and AIADMK to accommodate Dhinakaran’s AMMK in the AIADMK alliance. If these talks succeed, Dhinakaran’s AMMK will become part of the AIADMK alliance in these polls,” the senior leader said.
Late on Friday, the AIADMK announced that its ally BJP will contest from 20 constituencies in the 234-seat House as well as the bypoll for the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat, which was necessitated due to the death of sitting Congress MP H Vasanthakumar.
The AIADMK alliance has already agreed to share 23 seats with Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) of S Ramadoss. Talks with Captain Vijayakanth’s DMDK are in progress.
Meanwhile, the AIADMK on Friday announced its first list of candidates for six constituencies. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami will recontest from Edappadi in Salem, having won the seat four times in the past, while Deputy CM O Panneerselvam will contest from Bodinayakanur.
Other candidates include senior ministers D Jayakumar from Royapuram in North Chennai and C Ve Shanmugam from Villupuram.
T T V Dhinakaran. (File) 
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