Ruling AIADMK faction sees strife after I-T raids
Under attack from inside and outside, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) (Amma) faction headed by jailed general secretary VK Sasikala is a house divided.
With predators in AIADMK Puratchi Thalavi Amma (OPS faction) moving in for the kill and an aggressive Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) flexing its muscles, the ruling party and its party chief in absence of its jailed leader and her nephew TTV Dinakaran, stares at an uncertain future.
With the minister of health, C Vijayabhaskar muddled in I-T raids and three other ministers booked for intimidation of IT officials, there is a growing clamour within the establishment for dropping the minister altogether.
Ruling party circles are also agog with talk of senior leaders cautioning Dinakaran to stay away from party affairs.
Dinakaran denied any rift within the party and ruled out taking action against Vijayabhaskwar, who was among the ministers responsible for keeping the flock together at Kuvathur resort outside Chennai ahead of the trust vote in the assembly.
However, sources within the two factions of AIADMK indicated that back channel talks were on between the senior leaders of the two groups to “save the party”.
According to a party leader there was severe resentment against Sasikala and her family and things are moving against them now. “Dinakaran spent so much money in RK Nagar that attracted IT raids and focus on Vijayabhaskar, who was on I-T’s radar for some time,” said the leader unwilling to be named.
Applying more pressure on the ruling dispensation is the DMK, which is trying to rope in smaller parties in the expectation that the prevailing political situation could throw up several possibilities.
The general elections to Lok Sabha too seem to be weighing on DMK leader MK Stalin’s mind. He has convened an all-party meeting at the party’s headquarters on Sunday to discuss the prevailing agricultural crisis and farmer distress, for which he held the BJP-led central government and the present AIADMK government responsible.
“The OPS faction too cannot escape the blame,” DMK working president MK Stalin said.
MINISTER OF HEALTH C VIJAYABHASKAR BEING MUDDLED IN IT RAIDS HAS LED TO A CLAMOUR WITHIN THE ESTABLISHMENT FOR DROPPING THE MINISTER