Post poll, most AIADMK cadre will back me: TTV Dhinakaran

TTV Dhinakaran, the outlying contender to the political legacy of J Jayalalithaa, believes the majority of the AIADMK cadre currently supporting the leadership combine of Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam will shift allegiance after the upcoming election, an effect of the “people’s rejection of the current leadership of the AIADMK”. As much the confidence he exudes, Dhinakaran has faced setbacks. The recent one was the Delhi High Court ruling in favour of the AIADMK on the Two Leaves symbol litigation, forcing him to pick a new symbol. The Gift Box is his third electoral symbol in the past two years. With loyalist Senthil Balaji having defected to the DMK and just 13 days to go for the polls, Dhinakaran is pushing himself to visit more districts in the last leg of the campaign. Edited excerpts from an interview with ET:

Don’t you find yourself in a situation where you are being forced to popularise a new symbol in a short span?
I am better compared to when I was a mere Independent candidate. In December 2017, for the RK Nagar bypoll, I was the 27th candidate in the list and my symbol was pretty much at the discretion of the returning officer. For the current polls, I was given a choice of 36 symbols. In this day and age of digital media, the public are aware of my symbol. Almost 80-90% would have known on the day I was allotted the symbol, the rest I will reach through my campaigns now.

What is your projection of the bypoll to Tamil Nadu’s 18 Assembly seats?
The AIADMK needs to get at least eight seats to keep its government, which they will not. So, in all possibilities, we are looking at a statewide re-election in the coming months. After this election, almost all the AIADMK cadre will be by my side. The DMK rests its decision to go with the Congress on the belief that this election will be fought on the plank of secularism. Do you believe your party can leverage the anti-BJP sentiment in the state, if any? The DMK began its attack on the BJP, especially on secularism, only after the death of M Karunanidhi and the ascent of MK Stalin as its leader. Before that, its anti-BJP voice was not that strident. In fact, he (Stalin) had some criticism against Rahul Gandhi too. The DMK has changed its position because the anti-Modi sentiment has been quite high in Tamil Nadu for the past two years.

What makes you think the DMK cannot, and you can, leverage that sentiment?
In RK Nagar, the minorities voted for me en-masse. Even when Amma (Jayalalithaa) was alive, the DMK had a decent tally. But, against me, it lost its deposit. Another example was its reluctance to face the Thiruvarur (home constituency of M Karunanidhi) by-election. Minorities constitute 18-20% in that constituency. What forced the DMK to have (CPI leader) D Raja petition the Election Commission for postponing the election? It would have been defeated had the polls been held, which would have spotlighted its weakness in winning elections. So, it’s my party and not the DMK that stands to leverage the anti-Modi sentiment in Tamil Nadu.

Similar to Kamal Haasan, you have chosen to not ally with any large party. But you do not claim to be a disruptor of Dravidian politics?
Because I do not believe in grandstanding. I am from a Dravidian party. I have travelled across Tamil Nadu and my manifesto reflects their thinking that Tamil Nadu needs to redeem its state autonomy and disallow any neglect by the Centre.