Political divide widens in AIADMK, 26 MLAs side with Dhinakaran
The ruling AIADMK (Amma), which suffered a split earlier this year following the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, faced yet another internal rebellion with at least 26 MLAs backing the party’s deputy general secretary and Sasikala’s (in jail) nephew TTV Dhinakaran.
The development came a day after ministers, with the consent of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, met at the Secretariat and reiterated their opposition to Dhinakaran playing any role in the party or the government.
Dhinakaran, who was in April arrested by the Delhi police for attempting to bribe the Election Commission to get the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol for his faction, had earlier stated that he had ‘stepped aside’ from the party to ensure its unity. However, two days ago after being released on bail from the Tihar jail, he declared that he will ‘resume’ party work.
Rattled by his announcement, around 20 ministers met at Finance Minister D Jayakumar’s office on Monday, and reiterated their decision that he should keep up his word and stay away from interfering with the party or government. Jayakumar had also cautioned party men against having any truck with Dhinakaran.
However, ignoring this caution, around 26 MLAs met Dhinakaran at his residence on Monday and Tuesday and expressed support to him.
On the face of it, the development appeared to threaten the continuance of the over three month old Palaniswami government. Prior to Tuesday’s dissent, Palaniswami enjoyed the support of 122 MLAs (excluding the Speaker) in the 234-member House, which is a mere five member majority in the Assembly. The rebel AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) formed by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam enjoys the support of 12 MLAs. Now with 26 MLAs backing Dhinakaran, Palaniswami has the backing of only 96 MLAs.