Jolt for TTV as close aide joins AIADMK

TIRUCHY: In what could be a severe blow to the AMMK, the only town panchayat president of the party joined AIADMK in the presence of the party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday. With this, the AMMK has almost lost its presence in the party’s stronghold at Orathanadu.

Sources said that Thanjavur south district AMMK secretary M Sekar, considered to be a strong hand in Orathanadu area and a close associate of former minister R Vaithilingam, currently in OPS camp, joined AMMK when TTV Dhinakaran launched the party. Locals said that Sekar was in frustration after his close aide Vaithilingam sidelined him at every single chance and even prevented Thanjavur Lok Sabha ticket to him in 2014.

Sekar, who has a big clout among the people in Orathanadu region in Thanjavur, had fieleded his supporters in all the 15 wards of Orathanadu Town Panchayat local body polls and ensured victory of nine of them wards. Thus he became the president of the town panchayat. Since he was the only town panchayat president of AMMK, he had a good rapport with the party general secretary TTV Dhinakaran.

In such a backdrop, the AIADMK, which was looking for a strong hand to oppose Vaithilingam in his turf, former minister R Kamaraj had approached Sekar and convinced him to join AIADMK under the leadership of Edappadi K Palaniswami. Though the meeting of Kamaraj and Sekar was kept under wraps, Dhinakaran got wind of it and expelled him from the party post.

Sekar, who was waiting for this, went to Chennai with Karmaraj and joined the AIADMK in the presence of Edappadi K Palaniswami. With Sekar’s joining, the Orathanadu AIADMK cadre are in a jubilant mood.