A death in the Sasikala family on Friday brought her warring nephew-cum-AIADMK (Amma) deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran and her brother Divakaran closer, with the two momentarily burying the hatchet denying any difference of opinion.
After V.K. Sasikala, the AIADMK (Amma) general secretary, was convicted in the disproportionate assets case, she had handed over the reins of the party to Mr. Dhinakaran much to the chagrin of Mr. Divakaran, who enjoys the support of over a dozen MLAs from the delta region.
However, Mr. Dhinakaran and Mr. Divakaran, who took part in the last rites of Sasikala’s sister-in-law Santhana Lakshmi (married to Sundaravathanan) at Thanjavur, told journalists that there has been no rift in the family. Santhana Lakshmi was Mr. Dhinakaran’s mother-in-law.
While stating that there was no necessity for any conciliatory role by M. Natarajan (Sasikala's husband) in uniting the family, Mr. Divakaran likened the current “crisis” in the AIADMK to the predicament faced by Abhimanyu who entered the chakravyuha in the Kurukshetra war without knowing how to come out of it. “We will come out unscathed united,” Mr. Divakaran told media persons. He said the presence or absence of people (party functionaries and MLAs) at the condolence event must not be politicised.
‘Not much heft’
The regime headed by Edappadi K. Palaniswami was performing well, he replied to a query. On his part, Mr. Dhinakaran, when asked about the future of the AIADMK, said, “Wait and see.” A few weeks ago, coming out of the Tihar Prison — where he was lodged in connection with an alleged attempt to bribe Election Commission officials — he had set August 5 as the deadline to play a more active role in the party from which he was sidelined by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s cabinet colleagues.
The coming together of Mr. Dhinakaran and Mr. Divakaran, however, is unlikely to give them any significant control over the party or the government, though between them they claim to command the support of around 40-50 MLAs. With the ruling BJP at the Centre only interacting with the Chief Minister and the rebel leader O Panneerselvam while seeking their respective faction’s support for the recent Presidential election, the Sasikala family is unlikely to gain any political legitimacy, feel observers.
Meanwhile, even as uncertainty clouded the possibility of the much talked about merger of both factions of the AIADMK in the absence of visible symptoms towards the union, Mr. Palaniswami expressed hope that the two factions would unite.
While talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Chennai, Mr. Palaniswami said, “I hope that the merger [of AIADMK factions] will happen.” He, however, didn’t elaborate further.
