Upcoming local body polls as well as the possibility that claiming the ‘two leaves’ symbol is likely to be a long-drawn legal process are driving the proposal of dissident AIADMK leader T. T. V. Dhinakaran to start a new party.
The Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar MLA will on Wednesday hold discussions with his followers to examine the need to start his party. The anticipated prolonged litigation over the Election Commission’s allotment of the symbol of “two leaves” to the ruling faction of the AIADMK and the civic polls are among the factors that have weighed “in favour of the proposal to launch the party”, says P. Vetrivel, a key member of the Dhinakaran group.
On Tuesday, Mr. Dhinakaran, on his way to Kotagiri in Udhagamandalam district, told reporters on Thiruchitrambalam Kootu Road in Villupuram that he would make clear his decision on floating a political party on Wednesday coinciding with the birth anniversary celebrations of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran.
‘True AIADMK’
Till now, Mr. Dhinakaran and his supporters had claimed that they represented the “true AIADMK” and they discounted the possibility of floating a new party. In the recent byelection to the R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency, the dissident leader contested successfully as an Independent on the symbol of “pressure cooker.”
Pointing out that the proposed party would be an interim arrangement till “we get back ‘two leaves’ and the [AIADMK] party,” Mr. Vetrivel said that “in the coming polls to the local bodies, if we have to field candidates in all the places, we need an exclusive symbol. Moreover, there is going to be direct election to the post of Mayors of Municipal Corporations. This is why we have to form the new party.”
‘Hook or crook’
He added that “disqualified legislators and other [pro-Dhinakaran] MLAs” would not be part of the new party (as it would attract the provisions of the anti-defection law).Mr. Dhinakaran said that the symbol of ‘two leaves’ had slipped into “wrong hands” and those who could not come out successfully in the RK Nagar bypolls were casting a slur on the voters in the constituency.
Reacting to the rebel leader’s announcement, Marudhu Alagaraj, spokesperson of the AIADMK, said the “dual leadership” of coordinator of the party O. Panneerselvam (Deputy Chief Minister) and co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami (Chief Minister) was functioning “very well” and it was “only a matter of time” that the “shallowness” of Mr. Dhinakaran’s leadership would be exposed.
“He will soon realise that what has been achieved, by hook or crook, in one constituency cannot and will not be replicated throughout the State,” he added.
