The ruling AIADMK (Amma) in Tamil Nadu, which has a wafer thin majority of five members in the House, witnessed signs of internal turmoil with around 26 MLAs reportedly expressing solidarity with party deputy general secretary and jailed leader V.K. Sasikala’s nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran in the past two days. There is, however, no immediate threat to the government as Mr. Dhinakaran is in no hurry to rock the boat.
The development came a day after Finance Minister D. Jayakumar, who chaired a meeting of around 20 ministers and some senior party functionaries, reiterated to Mr. Dhinakaran that he should keep off the affairs of the party and the government as agreed in April.
The meeting of the ministers on Monday was held with the consent of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
CM meets supporters
On Tuesday, even as Mr. Dhinakaran was meeting his supporters, Mr. Palaniswami held discussions with MLAs from nine northern districts at the Secretariat ostensibly to consolidate his position.
Throughout the day, Mr. Dhinakaran’s residence in Adyar here was full of activity with his supporters coming one after the other to express their solidarity with him.
Andipatti legislator Thangatamilselvan claimed that 26 MLAs, five district secretaries and four Members of Parliament are backing the deputy general secretary. “There is no great design behind the legislators meeting Mr. Dhinakaran. It is all due to the observations of Mr. Jayakumar that the MLAs have chosen to meet the deputy general secretary and convey their support,” he said.
If Mr. Thangatamilselvan’s claim were to be true, the number of MLAs supporting Mr. Palaniswami would go down to 96. The rebel AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma), headed by former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, has the support of 12 MLAs.
Perambur MLA and another prominent member of the pro-Dhinakaran group P. Vetrivel said, “Our intention is not to disturb the present regime. We do not view the government as that of Edappadi K. Palaniswami. It is the government of Amma ’s [Jayalalithaa] and Chinnamma [interim general secretary Sasikala].”
He was, incidentally, one among those MLAs of Chennai who met the Chief Minister also on Tuesday afternoon. Expressing his strong disapproval of the Finance Minister’s position, Mr. Vetrivel said that during his meeting with Mr. Palaniswami, he asked the latter whether Mr. Jayakumar had made his statement on Monday with his [Mr. Palaniswami’s] approval. “But, the Chief Minister replied in the negative,” Mr. Vetrivel claimed.
I.S. Inbadurai, Radhapuram MLA, who was present in Bengaluru when Mr. Dhinakaran called on Ms. Sasikala, said it would not be fair to seek the ouster of Mr. Dhinakaran, as the deputy general secretary possesses the necessary “courage and charisma” to run the party.
S. Muthiah, Paramakudi legislator, felt Mr. Dhinakaran alone has the capacity to ensure the continuance of the party. He found fault with the Chief Minister and Ministers for making announcements on various matters concerning the party without any “consultation” with MLAs.
Among those who met Mr. Dhinakaran on Tuesday were Dusi K. Mohan (Cheyyar); V. Paneerselvam (Kalasapakkam), R.Thangathurai (Nilakottai), M. Chandraprabha (Srivilliputhur) S. Mariappan Kennady (Manamadurai) and S.G. Subramanian (Sattur). A batch of legislators had previously met Mr. Dhinakaran on Monday.
