The disintegration of the once powerful AIADMK is happening faster than expected as TTV Dinakaran, who was eased out as the deputy general secretary of the party by Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami dumping the latter and his friends by Saturday. A beleaguered Dinakaran is going ahead with his plans to hold a massive rally of the AIADMK at Melur near Madurai on August 14 and he has not invited the Chief Minister or his close aides for the show of strength.
Dinakaran, got a morale booster by Saturday evening with senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy declaring that the faction headed by V K Sasikala was the original AIADMK. “I stand by my earlier stance that the Election Commission of India was wrong in its decision to freeze the name AIADMK and the two leaves symbol of that party. The Governor of Tamil Nadu had invited Palaniswami and sworn him as Chief Minister only because the former was convinced about the fact that Sasikala headed the party and not O Panneerselvam,” said Dr Swamy while speaking to reporters at Chennai.
Meanwhile, the turf war between the factions headed by Palaniswami and Dinakaran reached a flashpoint as leaders of both the sides started calling each others names. Though Dr Swamy’s support is with the Sasikala faction of the party, Namathu MGR, the AIADMK mouthpiece lambasted the BJP for all the problems in the party. In an edit-page article, the paper came down heavily on the BJP for its efforts to enter Tamil Nadu piggy riding the AIADMK.
In another pointer to the divisions in the AIADMK (Amma) faction, the group owing allegiance to Sasikala launched a massive blitzkrieg in the run up to the public meeting to be addressed by Dinakaran on August 14 at Melur near Madurai. The advertisement films launched by the Dinakaran group feature only the pictures of Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and Dinakaran while there is no mention about Palaniswami or the detractors of Sasikala and Dinakaran.
Dinakaran got support from another unexpected source, the DMK. Without naming Dinakaran or Sasikala, the DMK’s working president MK Stalin on Saturday accused the BJP for fomenting troubles in the AIADMK. “All problems faced by Tamil Nadu, whether it be the uncertainty associated with the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) or the hydrocarbon projects at Cauvery Delta, all are because of the BJP,” said Stalin.
Sources in the AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) faction, which is headed by Panneerselvam said that parleys were on with the Palaniswami faction for the merger. Tamil news channels were reporting that the merger could happen before August 14 itself so as to pre-empt the public meeting which has been convened by Dinakaran. But the question being asked by veteran scribes familiar with the goings on in the AIADMK are sceptical about the party without the Sasikala family.