Chennai: A storm brewing in the ruling AIADMK faction is threatening to uproot Sasikala Natarajan and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran from the party leadership. The thunderbolt might land before Tuesday as several senior ministers and party functionaries in the ‘Chinnamma’ group are openly campaigning for the ouster of the two, holding the positions of general secretary and deputy general secretary respectively, to facilitate merger with the rival O. Panneerselvam group and “save the party from total disintegration”, informed sources say.
About 20 party seniors, including 12 ministers, held a meeting with TTV at his residence Friday morning to discuss strategy in the wake of the April 7 tax raids. Sparks flew at the two-hour meeting that these ‘rebels’ had with TTV at his residence yesterday, in which 12 of the total 31 ministers participated. “We told TTV to step down so as to redeem the party symbol (two-leaves) frozen by the EC and strengthen the AIADMK by bringing back the OPS group. We warned that the party would otherwise disintegrate and the DMK will form the government. But TTV remained adamant, saying, ‘we will face it’. We will not allow him to have his way, just to protect the interests of the Sasikala family. You will see things changing fast”, said a senior minister, requesting anonymity.
“Of the 12 ministers who attended the meeting, only housing minister Udumalai Radhakrishnan, supported TTV. Several ministers who were not able to come told us they are with us. If TTV fails to read the writing on the wall, we will go ahead and take our firm decision by Tuesday”, said another ‘rebel’ minister, adding that the hammer might have fallen sooner but for the sudden death of V. Mahadevan, nephew of Sasikala, which forced TTV and most of his supporters to rush to hometown Thanjavur.
The OPS camp is watching the revolt in the rival faction with great interest and understandable expectation. In fact, six ministers had called on OPS a couple of days back to pledge their commitment to his leadership. “I am confident that the two factions will soon unite under the leadership of OPS. It is now clearly established that he is the only leader who can go out and get votes for the party. That is the key driver”, said former minister Mafoi K. Pandiarajan, adding, “People will crush whoever goes out to seek votes in the name of Sasikala and her family”. In his view, the ‘ejection’ of the ‘family’ from the ruling party and the reunification of the two rival factions “could happen within the next few days”.
If the tax raids gave the first jolt to his hold on the party, the resurrection of the two Enforcement Directorate cases (1996, 2001) against him caused further trouble for TTV-not just with the IT-ED departments but also within his own party-and has now triggered the fast-paced revolt from a strong AIADMK segment. “The two cases are coming up before the Economic Offences Court in Egmore on Tuesday (April 18). The court is likely to hear them on a daily basis. We expect a verdict in a month”, said a party senior, pointing out that Sasikala too is facing the ED heat. “I am just watching the developments at the moment but will soon have to take a stand considering that things are getting now getting hot”.
