Analysts feel TTV moots truck with AIADMK to divide Oppn & isolate EPS

CHENNAI: Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) general secretary TTV Dhinakaran, who lost from Kovilpatti in the 2021 Assembly elections, is apparently keen to extend an olive branch to former CM Edappadi K Palaniswami for locking an alliance deal with the AIADMK. In a recently held AMMK general council meeting, he expressed his desire to enter into an alliance with the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

According to political observers, the recent statements of Dhinakaran show that he is aiming to bring AMMK and AIADMK under the NDA headed by the BJP. “I already made such a call to face 2021 together. However, they (AIADMK) refused to accept it and lost the elections,” Dhinakaran said in a press meet in Thanjavur on Monday.

The AMMK leader further added, “We all once survived under a single roof. Though we are running our parties independently, it is indispensable to join hands together to dethrone the anti-people DMK government from the helms of power.”

Recently, former CM O Panneerselvam, who has been facing internal strife with his former colleague Palaniswami, made a statement saying that everyone, including VK Sasikala and Dhinakaran can come together for the welfare of the party.

Dhinakaran interpreted the statement of OPS that the former CM was not just appealing everyone to join AIADMK, “Working together means, people who have parted away can come and join hands with their own distinctiveness to face the war from their own terrain.” This seems to be the intimation of Dhinakaran to Palaniswami that if the latter is uninterested in admitting the former, he could make an alliance with the AMMK.

It should be recalled that AIADMK leader and former minister D Jayakumar had asserted that there is no room for admitting Sasikala and Dhinakaran back into the party at any cost. Speaking to DT Next, Jayakumar said, “The AIADMK will never accept Sasikala and Dhinakaran at any time. They are trying to make a backdoor entry after their request for joining the party was dismissed by our leader EPS.” However, political analyst Raveendran Duraiswamy has a different view on this matter saying that this is a plot set by Dhinakaran and OPS to marginalise EPS in the party. “The politics of Tamil Nadu is going in the way of Stalin Vs others. Therefore, Dhinakaran is calling upon the EPS camp to make an alliance with AMMK. The fact is that Palaniswami will never accept the deal and he will make his own way. Hence, Dhinakaran would get an opportunity to pour scorn on Palaniswami saying that he did not come forward to defeat the DMK. So, I assume this as a plan to isolate EPS among the cadre,” said Duraiswamy.