Targeted strike

With a strategic alliance and a smart manifesto, AMMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran could influence the results in more than 60 constituencies

- LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN

ON MARCH 3, when expelled AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala announced her decision to withdraw from active politics, her nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran was taken aback. Speaking to the media outside Sasikala’s bungalow in Chennai, Dhinakaran admitted that he did not see it coming. Two days later, when key allies of Sasikala and her Mannargudi clan resolved to go with the AIADMK and the DMK in the upcoming elections, Dhinakaran, who heads the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), said that he was staying put with his new allies—the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen of Asaduddin Owaisi, the Social Democratic Party of India and the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam led by actor Vijayakanth.

“I am not fighting a lonely battle. I am fighting for the people of Tamil Nadu against the DMK for bringing back Amma’s rule,” Dhinakaran told THE WEEK, while campaigning in Coimbatore. “The people are looking for a change as they have understood that the present government has betrayed them. And the DMK has created an illusion by making people believe that they are coming back to power after 10 years. But the illusion will be broken.”