nEven as the Supreme Court stayed the Tamil Nadu Speaker’s move to initiate steps to disqualify the three AIADMK legislators owing allegiance to TTV Dhinakaran, one of the former MLAs who was disqualified earlier blamed the AMMK leader for his greed to become the CM of the State.
V Senthil Balaji, former minister and one of the 18 former MLAs who were disqualified under the provision of the anti-defection law by the Speaker, said at Aravakurichi that it was Dhinakaran’s greed to become the chief minister which resulted in the political impasse in the AIADMK. Balaji was in the AIADMK and had won the 2016 assembly election from Aravakurichi only to switch over to the Sasikala-Dhinakaran camp after the demise of the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016.
After his disqualification, Balaji crossed over to the DMK and is the party candidate for the by-election to be held on Mau 19. This is the first time a former associate of Dhinakaran is blaming the latter for his ambition to become the Chief Minister.
The trouble in the AUADMK began in early 2017 with Dhinakaran declaring his plan to contest the RK Nagar assembly by-election caused by the death of Jayalalithaa, who was representing the constituency. Chief Minister Edappady Palaniswamy was quick the writing on the wall about the danger posed by Dhinakaran’s election as MLA.
Dhinakaran who was eased out of the AIADMK along with Sasikala launched Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhakam and has been claiming that he was the rightful heir of Jayalalithaa.
Though he had declared that he would seize the party and the government with the help of his sleeper cells, nothing has happened since then. Dhinakaran failed to get the party symbol of Two Leaves allocated to the AMMK by the EC.
The truth is that Dhinakaran and other members of his family were persona non grata in Vedha Nilayam (Jayalalithaa’s residence) while she was alive. When Sasikala, Dhinakaran and other members of the Mannargudi family were ousted from Vedha Nilayam in December 2011 by Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK cadre had celebrated the event all over the State by bursting dire crackers. But Sasikala managed to creep back to the Poes Garden residence by issuing a statement that her mission in life was to serve Akka (read Jayalalithaa). It was on the morning of December 2016 when Jayalalithaa’s mortal remain was lying in State at the Government Estate in Chennai the Mannargudi clan took control of the AIADMK allegedly with the help of some police officials and bureaucrats who owed their positions to Sasikala and her husband Natarajan.
The public disclosure made by Senthil Balaji is almost certain to cause ripples in the AIADMK politics. If the AMMK fails to make any inroads in the assembly by-election to the 22 seats, it is sure to end up as a major setback to Dhinakaran and Sasikala.