The 54-year-old TTV Dhinakaran has set a rare precedent by winning a bypoll as an independent against the ruling AIADMK party. Just a few months ago, he had been expelled from the party in an internal power struggle.
He has had a chequered stint in the AIADMK over the last two-and-a half decades. He started as a member of an elite coterie comprising family members of VK Sasikala, his aunt, a close confidante of former Chief Minister and party General Secretary J Jayalalithaa, who passed away last December.
He served as an AIADMK MP after being elected in the 1999 Parliamentary elections, and was subsequently nominated to the Rajya Sabha between 2004 and 2010.
However, in 2011, Jayalalithaa expelled Sasikala and a dozen of her relatives, including Dhinakaran.
At that time, it was perceived that the expulsion of Sasikala, who had not been allowed a political role, and her family members, was due to interference in the party. Dhinakaran again burst on to the political centre stage in Tamil Nadu last February after a six-year lull. Within a month of Jayalalithaa’s death, Sasikala took over as the General Secretary of the AIADMK and moved to become the Chief Minister by being elected as the leader of the legislative party.
O Panneerselvam, who had succeeded Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister, had to step down. But he later rebelled, and the party split. In February, Sasikala was convicted in a disproportionate assets case by the Supreme Court, for which she is serving a four-year sentence. Jayalalithaa was the first accused in the case, but the charges against her abated after her death. Before surrendering to the authorities, Sasikala brought in Dhinakaran as Deputy General Secretary of the AIADMK and made Edappadi K Palaniswami take over as leader of legislative party and Chief Minister.
Ousted again
Subsequently, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam reunited, and in August, edged out Dhinakaran and Sasikala.
Dhinakaran has now proclaimed that the people consider him the successor to the political legacy of Jayalalithaa.