The discord simmering among the extended family members of V.K. Sasikala, close aide of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, deepened on Wednesday, with her nephew and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran making it clear that her brother Dhivakaran had no connection with the party.
“Mr. Dhivakaran is the brother of the party general secretary V.K. Sasikala. He has no connection whatsoever with the AMMK,” Mr. Dhinakaran told reporters in Kumbakonam.
“I am answerable only to the general secretary of the party – Sasikala – the one who brought me back to politics after late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa asked me to keep away from it. I am not answerable to others,” Mr. Dhinakaran said.
Recalling Mr. Dhivakaran’s association with former Minister S.D. Somasundaram when he launched Namadhu Kazhagam in 1984, Mr. Dhinakaran said that Mr. Dhivakaran held an important post in that party and therefore had no right to criticise him.
“Sasikala made me deputy general secretary of the AIADMK before going to jail. It happened naturally. If it had hurt anyone, I cannot do anything. Mr. Dhivakaran is angry with Sasikala. He is not visiting her in jail. But he is taking out his anger against me,” Mr. Dhinakaran alleged.
Without naming anyone, Mr. Dhinakaran cited an instance of how a party had weakened due to the dominance of a family, and was struggling to come back to power. “I will not allow any family dominance in the AMMK,” he said.
Terming the public meetings being organised by the AIADMK on the Cauvery issue an eyewash, Mr. Dhinakaran said the people of the delta region were clever and “cannot be cheated by the trick.”
