Sedition case a 'political vendetta', will fight legally, say Dhinkaran MLAs

CHENNAI: Dubbing sedition case against TTV Dhinakaran and his supporters as “political vendetta”, MLAs owing allegiance to him on Tuesday said, their leader will face the case “legally” and would not seek bail even if he is arrested in the case.

MLAs P Vetrivel and Thanga Tamilselvan accused the Tamil Nadu Government of “working overtime” to trouble Dhinakaran, who is “determined” to send the EPS-OPS administration “packing.”

“We will face the case legally. Dhinakaran will not apply for bail in the case even if he is arrested. Dhinakaran and his supporters, like me, cannot be booked for distribution of pamphlets, which had our name. Why should sedition charges be slapped on us? This is pure politics,” Vetrivel said.

Dhinakaran, Vetrivel and Pugazhendi have been booked under sedition charges for publishing and distributing pamphlets that contained “defamatory remarks” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

“If we can’t face such cases, why are we in politics? We have faced several such cases and we will face this as well,” he said.

To a question on Law Minister C Ve Shanmugam’s statement that Dhinakaran was not Mahatma, Vetrivel used sarcasm to target him.

“Shanmugam is a true Gandhian because he follows Gandhiji’s anti-liqour policy to the core,” he said.

Thanga Tamilselvan also spoke in the same vein on the sedition case. Replying to several questions, he dismissed reports that Dhinakaran was planning to launch a new outfit.

“Why should he launch a new party? There is no need as we are the original AIADMK. AIADMK’s general secretary is VK Sasikala and deputy general secretary is Dhinakaran. So, we are the real AIADMK,” he said.