AIADMK crisis: Dinakaran complains Tamil Nadu police harassing MLAs loyal to him
TTV Dinakaran is the nephew of sacked party chief VK Sasikala, who had appointed him her deputy before going to jail for corruption in February. Her political ambitions triggered a split in the AIADMK.
Former AIADMK deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran countered on Wednesday the party’s decision to sack him from the post, saying the decision was illegal.
Dinakaran is the nephew of sacked party chief VK Sasikala, who had appointed him her deputy before going to jail for corruption in February.
The rebel leader threatened to pull down the government “to save the AIADMK”, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu that has been in turmoil since the death of its supremo J Jayalalithaa in December last year.
“I can go to any extent to save the party,” he warned.
Sasikala, a close aide of Jayalalithaa, took over the reins after her mentor and chief minister’s death. Her political ambitions triggered a split in the party, but the two factions came together in August.
The reunion again split the party as several legislators loyal to Sasikala are said to be backing the nephew.
“I have 21 MLAs with me and these are the MLAs who did not attend Tuesday’s meeting,” Dinakaran said.
The AIADMK called a meeting in which the deputy general secretary was sacked.
But Dinakaran said it was not a general council meeting where such decisions could be taken.
“It was not convened by either the general secretary or deputy general secretary, that is me,” he told reporters. “The decisions taken at the meeting are illegal.”
He said the Madras high court could take up the party’s decision a hearing on October 23.
Besides the 21 legislators, he said “sleeper cells” will get active at the right time to overthrow the government.
“We will show what sleeper cells are on the floor of the house,” Dinakaran threatened.
He also complained that Tamil Nadu police were harassing his MLAs in Coorg, where they are currently holed out.
He alleged that the legislators were threatened with dire consequences if they didn’t return the faction under chief minister Edappadi Palanisami, also known as EPS.
“EPS does not have 117 members needed for majority, everyone knows this and everyone also knows how many MLAs are with us in Coorg,” he said.
The internal turmoil in the AIADMK is said to be giving bitter rivals DMK a chance to bounce back into the southern state’s political landscape after the defeat in the 2016 assembly elections.
But Dinakaran refused to accept that his actions were aimed at helping the DMK.