The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Amma) deputy general secretary, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, who returned to Chennai on Saturday afternoon on bail after having been lodged at the Tihar jail for over a month in a case relating to alleged attempt to bribe Election Commission officials, said he would work for the merger of the party’s two factions [AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) being the other camp].
Pointing out that he chose to step aside in deference to the suggestion of some persons in the party that he was the stumbling block for the reunion, Mr. Dhinakaran said what he found now was the absence of the situation [for the reunion]. “As a worker of the party, I will strive for the coming together of the two groups,” he told reporters near his residence in Adyar here. Earlier in the day, at the Delhi airport, he asserted that he had been involved in party work till his arrest in late April.
Mr. Dhinakaran said he would shortly meet his aunt and interim general secretary of the AIADMK (Amma), V.K. Sasikala, now serving her sentence in the disproportionate assets case in Bengaluru.
Though Mr. Dhinakaran’s supporters gave an enthusiastic reception to him both at the Chennai airport and his residence in Adyar, Ministers and most Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of the AIADMK (Amma) were conspicuously absent. Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who was handpicked by Sasikala to succeed O. Pannerselvam in mid-February, was in the city to attend a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
‘Courtesy call’
On Friday night, AIADMK’s parliamentary party leader P. Venugopal, along with two other Lok Sabha Members of Parliament, called on Mr. Dhinakaran in New Delhi, hours after the latter’s release from the jail. “It was a courtesy call. I happened to be in New Delhi yesterday as I had a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee earlier in the day,” Mr. Venugopal explained, acknowledging that nine MLAs were also present there when he met the AIADMK (Amma) leaders. Thangatamilselvan, Andipatti MLA and a known supporter of Mr. Dhinakaran, points out that four more MLAs and one MP were present at the Chennai airport to receive the deputy general secretary. P. Vetrivel, Perambur MLA and the key person behind the reception, claimed that some more MLAs had met Mr. Dhinakaran at the Adyar residence after he left the place.
As of now, going by the claims of Dr. Venugopal, Mr. Thangatamilselvan and Mr. Vetrivel, four MPs and 13 MLAs had openly demonstrated their solidarity with Mr. Dhinakaran. Former Ministers, Thopu N. D. Venkatachalam, P. Palaniappan and V. Senthil Balaji were among the legislators.
Ever since the emergence of the two groups, the AIADMK (Amma) has been claiming that it has the support of 122 MLAs and 37 MPs.
Asked for comment, Treasurer of the AIADMK (Amma) and Forests Minister Dindigul C. Srinivasan told The Hindu that Mr. Palaniswami and other senior leaders would discuss and take a call on how to respond to the former’s decision to return to active party work.
