Rebel Dhinakaran floats his outfit named after Jaya
MADURAI: TTV Dhinakaran, the rebel All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader, on Thursday floated a new political party, the “Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam”, named after late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
“From today onwards, we will function with a name to retrieve the great movement of AIADMK from the betrayers,” Dhinakaran told a gathering on the occasion, challenging the ruling dispensation in the state. Dhinakaran and his followers often use the word “betrayers” to refer to the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, led by chief minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam. Announcing the name of the new party, “Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam”, roughly translated as “Amma’s party for people’s development”, thrice to a thunderous applause at Melur, near here, Dhinakaran said it was a party of the followers of “Puratchi Thalaivi Amma” (revolutionary leader Amma).
“This party will function in the name of Amma...the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam will capture power in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Regretting that party general secretary VK Sasikala could not be present, he said he was announcing the name of the party with her greetings and permission. Later, Dhinakaran hoisted the new party flag, which features the image of a smiling Jayalalithaa, on a 100-foot pole.
The flag is black on top and red below with white in the middle. The black and red colours are politically significant in Tamil Nadu and they feature in the flags of the two Dravidian majors -- the ruling AIADMK and the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) -- as well.
Dhinakaran’s party symbol will remain the “pressure cooker”, on which he won last December’s bypoll for the prestigious RK Nagar seat that had fallen vacant after Jayalalithaa’s death.
Ruling AIADMK mouthpiece “Namadhu Amma” made light of Dhinakaran floating his own outfit, saying his exit only fulfilled the “last wish” of the late party supremo Jayalalithaa.
Senior AIADMK leader and fisheries minister D Jayakumar likened the dissident leader to a “mosquito,” that sat on a “lion,” which is the ruling party.
“And the mosquito has now gone away and everybody is happy with Amma’s regime which has been governing Tamil Nadu well,” he told reporters.
The state government has allotted ~20 crore to convert ‘Veda Nilayam’, the official residence of the late Jayalalithaa into a memorial, Panneerselvam announced on Thursday. Officials have recently commenced preliminary work on the proposed project at Poes Garden.
The opposition DMK boycotted the budget presentation over the Cauvery issue.