Chennai: Hours after TTV Dhinakaran’s surgical strike ‘hit’ Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy as he was removed from party post, the latter’s colleagues in the AIADMK and the cabinet hit back at the embattled nephew of V.K. Sasikala, saying he had “no power” to remove anyone since he has already been “demonetised.”
Dhinakaran, who still claims to be the deputy general secretary of the AIADMK since general secretary V.K. Sasikala named him to the post, issued a statement on Sunday morning “removing” Palanisamy from the post of party’s Salem (suburban) district secretary and appointed former Veerapandi MLA S.K. Selvam in his place.
The embattled AIADMK leader, whose appointment was declared “illegal” in the way of a resolution by party office-bearers, has been removing his opponents from their party posts and naming his followers in their place.
Dhinakaran’s action against Palanisamy is being seen as a move to keep his flock together. Political analysts say the action against AIADMK seniors by Dhinakaran would not create instability in the EPS-OPS camp since everyone knows his position has already been challenged in party forums as well as in the Election Commission.
“The announcement is aimed just at creating enthusiasm among his supporters. This is nothing but a desperate move to keep his flock together,” a senior AIADMK leader said, requesting anonymity.
Reacting to the removal of Palanisamy, tourism minister Vellamandi Natarajan said Dhinakaran has no powers to remove anyone from the AIADMK.
“I think he has lost his mind and he should be admitted to Kilpauk. How can he remove district secretaries and who gave him the power? Dhinakaran should remember that he was removed from the party by late Amma (Jayalalithaa) and that he had even ditched Chinamma (Sasikala) during the RK Nagar by-polls by not displaying her picture in the campaign,” he said.
“Dhinakaran is after power. His greed to capture power is resulting in his behaviour. Let him remove me from the post of Tiruchy district secretary?” he asked.
Trichy MP P. Kumar went a step ahead calling Dhinakaran “demonetised currency.” “He is a valueless currency. How can he remove people? If he removes people, there is no value or meaning to it,” Kumar told reporters in Trichy.
Sasi gave me powers, says Dhinakaran
Chennai: Even as AIADMK ministers and leaders decried his move of removing the Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy from his party post, TTV Dhinakaran put up a brave face maintaining that Sasikala, in her capacity as General Secretary, has permitted him to take “any action” in the interests of the party.
“We are not after any posts. I would have become the Chief Minister if I had wanted (in February after Sasikala went to jail). The battle is between sacrifice and betrayal. 90 per cent of the ministers and MLAs were identified by us and the legislators who are at Puducherry are supporting our sacrifice (Sasikala family’s) to the AIADMK,” Dhinakaran said.
He also claimed all 122 MLAs are “with me” and only a few people are “acting against me” for political reasons. The embattled leader maintained that the 19 legislators are staying in Puducherry only awaiting action from Tamil Nadu Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao. “There is no other reason for their stay. They will come (to Chennai) once Governor takes any action. We are sincerely hoping that the Governor will take a quick decision on the issue,” he told reporters.
