After his emphatic win from RK Nagar, TTV Dhinakaran took oath as an MLA in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Friday.
Speaker P Dhanapal administered the oath to Dhinakaran, who contested the December 21 by-poll as an independent, and handed out a drubbing to the AIADMK’s E Madhusudanan and DMK’s N Marudhu Ganesh.
The by-poll was necessitated following the death of J Jayalalithaa, who was the RK Nagar legislator before her death in December 2016.
Dhinakaran, who is a first-time MLA, however, is not new to electoral politics. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999 from the Periyakulam constituency and to the Rajya Sabha in 2004.
Speaking to newspersons after taking oath, Dhinakaran said the RK Nagar by-poll had proved the ‘two leaves’ symbol alone did not make them (the team of Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palanswami and his deputy, O Paneerselvam) the true AIADMK. “With hardcore supporters, we are the true AIADMK,” he said.
He lashed out at both Palaniswami and Paneerselvam for what he called a betrayal of 1.5 crore party supporters.
TTV loyalists sacked Even as the Dhinakaran camp celebrated his victory, the AIADMK continued its crackdown on Dhinakaran adherents by sacking nearly 130 functionaries in Tiruppur, Dharmapuri and Pudukottai districts on charges of bringing disrepute to the party. Such action was triggered after the party’s candidate was defeated in the RK Nagar by-poll.
“At this rate, they need to expel all 1.5 crore AIADMK supporters who are behind us,” said Dhinakaran in response to a question on sacking of his supporters.