: Before going to Bengaluru jail, AIADMK interim general secretary V.K. Sasikala made sure that her family retained its grip over the ruling party by appointing her nephew T.T.V. Dinakaran as the deputy general secretary of the party.
In essence, Dinakaran will be in charge of the party in Sasikala’s absence. The elevation of Mr. Dinakaran, a former Member of Parliament and touted as Jayalalithaa’s successor in 2000, has not come as a surprise to partymen. It was an expected move since he has literally been her shadow from the time party supremo Jayalalithaa died on December 5 at Apollo Hospitals here.
Before that, Mr. Dinakaran, along with most others of Sasikala’s extended family, were living in political wilderness for six years. Along with Sasikala, Jayalalithaa expelled 12 members of her family in 2011 for interfering with ‘the administration’ following inputs from the then chief secretary Debendranath Sarangi and DGP Ramanujam.
Fearing Jayalalithaa, most of them went into hiding but were in touch with those party functionaries who were close to them, sources said. According to them, Mr. Dinakaran has been living in Puducherry for the past few years. He is the son of Sasikala’s older sister Vanithamani. He has two brothers Bhaskaran, once the managing director of JJ TV that folded up before the launch of Jaya TV, and Sudhagaran, the disowned foster son of Jayalalithaa and who is in jail with Sasikala now.
It was when Jayalalithaa’s body was kept in state at Rajaji Hall that the Sasikala clan, until then kept out by the former CM, came out in public to show who was in control: While all the Ministers were sitting on the stairs leading to the dais where the coffin was placed, the family cornered all the vantage positions. Mr. Dinakaran, however, made only a brief appearance.
However, it became clear later that Mr. Dinakaran had become second in command when he led Ms. Sasikala out to meet the AIADMK delegation led by Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam that visited Poes Garden to request Ms. Sasikala to take over as the party’s general secretary.
Again, it Mr. Dinakaran who accompanied Ms. Sasikala first and then the newly elected legislature party leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami to Raj Bhavan to stake claim to form the government.
Mr. Dinakaran is the only one in the Sasikala family to have tested the electoral waters. He contested the Lok Sabha elections in 1999 from the Periyakulam constituency. “Dinakaran was generous and kind-hearted. He never said no to anyone who came for help. He always gave money to the needy. He gave donations in thousands for temple festivals,” says Varadhan, an AIADMK functionary in Theni district.
“If invited, he would try and be present in any function in any cadre’s house,” he recalls. For community work also, he donated large sums, gaining popularity among the masses in the constituency. An MLA close to Mr. Dinakaran, said “Then, anything in the government would be done immediately if he cleared the file.”
Party leaders say that he is mild-mannered and friendly compared to most others in the Sasikala family and gives a patient hearing.
For the party members, he was the heir apparent. In fact, in mid-2000 he enjoyed so much clout that 36 of the 50 district secretaries were replaced and seniors like Sedapatti R. Muthiah, Karuppasamy Pandian and S. Regupathy were expelled from the party. Mr. Regupathy even said he was happy to have been expelled from ‘Annan Dinakaran Munnetra Kazhagam’. Mr. Pandian had then said they were expelled because they would oppose the pattabhishekham (annointing) of Dinakaran.
Mr. Dinakaran had a close rapport with the voters of his constituency so much so that he got to contest from the same constituency again in 2004 but lost to Congress candidate J. M. Aaron Rashid by 21,555 votes, considered a slender margin. Subsequently, he served as Rajya Sabha MP as well.
After his expulsion in 2011, Mr. Dinakaran led a low-profile life but has made a comeback under controversial circumstances to take charge of the party — something, insiders say, he was being groomed for.
A doctor’s comeback
S. Venkatesh is the other person from the family who has been reinstated by Sasikala. His sister is married to TTV Dinakaran.
Mr. Venkatesh, a medical professional, is the son of . Sasikala’s brother Sundaravadhanan. He was the secretary of Ilaignar Pasarai (youth brigade) and was once a prominent leader in the party. A few of the Ministers in the present Cabinet owe their political career to him.
It was he who held parleys with the leaders of the alliance parties for the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, but was removed from his party post in September 2010. He subsequently fell out of favour.
