After LS poll drubbing, TTV Dhinakaran fights attrition in party

CHENNAI: TTV Dhinakaran is faced with a challenge of holding his outfit together, following an outflow of cadre from the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) after its drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls.
Dhinakaran met his aunt and J Jayalalithaa’s personal aide of decades, VK Sasikala, in prison in Bengaluru on Wednesday, to discuss the challenges faced by the party and the way forward, party insiders said.

Over the last few days, the AIADMK has been reinducting several batches of functionaries, who had left Tamil Nadu’s ruling party to join the AMMK after the death of Jayalalithaa, in districts such as Tiruppur, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari. One of the biggest jolts to Dhinakaran has been the recent desertion of two regional chiefs — Theni politician Thangatamilselvan and former minister Esakki Subbiah from Tirunelveli.

Last week, Thangatamilselvan met MK Stalin to join the opposition DMK, which along with allies had won all but one seat from Tamil Nadu in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Subbiah has announced that his formal re-entry into the AIADMK would happen this week.

The two join a crop of leaders such as VP Kalairajan and Senthil Balaji who had shifted allegiances from Dhinakaran.

For Dhinakaran, the exit of lesser-known functionaries should be equally worrying.

AMMK leaders say both the main Dravidian parties have been indulgent in wooing the rank and file of Dhinakaran.

“Those who have left the party were disciplined for misconduct or had left of their own accord on considerations beyond political motivations,” said P Vetrivel, one of the first AIADMK politicians to side with Dhinakaran after the post-Jayalalithaa churn in the AIADMK in early 2017.

AMMK insiders say Thangatamilselvan had differences with the party high command that exploded after the poor poll performance. Dhinakaran, in a press conference after Thangatamilselvan’s exit, said it was some of the Theni politician’s “reckless comments” in the media that proved to be his undoing.

Dhinakaran’s current crisis is a result of disgruntlement among his cadre after the rout in the parliamentary elections and by-polls recently, said AIADMK insiders. While Dhinakaran had won the assembly seat of RK Nagar, which was held by Jayalalithaa, in a December 2017 by-poll, he failed to secure a single seat in the recent election season.

“Dhinakaran’s party was made of disappointed AIADMK cadre who jumped ship for better political positions. It is natural that they return now, having seen the poll results,” said a senior AIADMK leader, on conditions of anonymity.