AIADMK (Amma) deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran is learnt to be have gone back on his original decision to “step aside” from party affairs after he observed that ministers were seeking to break free from any control and that the merger talks between the two AIADMK factions were not on track. Sources close to him told The Hindu that he is seeking to play the role of a “watchdog” and will not disturb the government using the support of 32 legislators as he is conscious that this would only favour the DMK.
Mr. Dhinakaran, who has been meeting various legislators after coming out on bail from the Tihar prison, reportedly felt that the party was currently directionless and inferred that cadres were meeting him because they saw him as a “rallying point”. “He told us that he was not for pulling down ‘our government’, as in the case of snap polls it would be advantageous only to the DMK. Mr. Dhinakaran hinted to us that the ministers were against him because they did not want to be kept under check or be held accountable for their actions,” claimed a source, who is constantly in touch with him.
The AIADMK (Amma) deputy general secretary is also believed to be keen on giving the impression that the support that he is attracting is not orchestrated but spontaneous, though there is no explanation from his followers as to why most MLAs who met him in the last three-four days had not called on him at the Tihar jail for over a month.
Favours reunion
Sources said that jailed party general secretary V.K. Sasikala, who is Mr. Dhinakaran’s aunt, had advised him to maintain a low profile for a couple of months. “Mr. Dhinakaran is even now in favour of a reunion between the AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) and the ruling faction. Considering that even in the 2016 Assembly elections, the AIADMK’s vote share was only 1.1% higher than that of the DMK, he is aware that an election in the near future would only pave way for the return of the DMK to power,” a source said.
There is also a talk among the pro-Dhinakaran members that in the event of the DMK’s victory in snap polls, one cannot rule out the possibility of the new government slapping corruption cases against those in power now, on one pretext or the other.
The Dhinakaran camp also says that so far, there have been no feelers from the Bharatiya Janata Party seeking support for the Presidential elections. After all, the BJP is the ruling party at the Centre and it knows how to mobilise the required support from various States. Mr. Dhinakaran is conscious of this aspect too, the sources add.
