Chennai: Rebel leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran has vowed to approach the Supreme Court if the Election Commission allots the Two Leaves symbol to the EPS-OPS camp. He also alleged that Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and his Cabinet colleagues are speaking in favour of the BJP only because they are "scared" of the Central government agencies like CBI, ED and income tax department with many of the functionaries having "several things to hide."
Claiming that the issue of allotting the party symbol could not be decided easily owing to the legalities involved in the case, Mr. Dhinakaran said he would not hesitate to approach the Supreme Court if a "hasty decision" was made in handing over the party symbol to the Palaniswami group. "We have placed our arguments and our demand is just. We are asking for the symbol as per the party's by laws," he told reporters here on Monday.
He also claimed that "people know with whom the two leaves symbol be," and said people's mandate is for the Two Leaves symbol. TTV expressed confidence that the Election Commission's decision would go in the favour of his faction.
To a question he replied that he would contest in the R. K. Nagar by-poll in Chennai, "if the governing body so decided. "Don't think I'm hesitating to contest.
If the governing body decides... and I'm already awaiting their decision, I'm confident that they will pick me," Mr. Dhinakaran said.
On October 12, the Election Commission ordered the Tamil Nadu government to conduct the R. K. Nagar constituency by-election before December 31. Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa had represented this constituency for two terms before her demise in December last year.
BJP’s demand insulting freedom of expression: Dhinkaran who joined the chorus in favour of Tamil film 'Mersal' said the BJP's demand to delete scenes on GST amounted to "insulting freedom of expression." He also questioned the "aggressive" posture of BJP National Secretary H. Raja on the issue.
On the controversy surrounding the Vijay-starrer, Dhinakaran sarcastically remarked that the film crew should thank Raja and BJP state president Tamilisai Soundarajan for giving such publicity for the movie.
"The censor board has allowed (the film's release) and they are now objecting (to certain scenes on GST)... this amounts to insulting freedom of expression," he said.
The film, he claimed, only tried to highlight an issue - the Goods and Services Tax, which affected the people. "I don't know why Raja is so aggressive. His tone is intimidating. This is a shameful thing for all politicians, including me," he said and added that the BJP leaders could have sorted out the issue with the film producers through talks.
