Buoyed by the order of the Delhi High Court, which observed that an election symbol, “preferably Pressure Cooker”, be allotted to him, dissident AIADMK leader and R.K. Nagar MLA T.T.V. Dhinakaran is all set to launch his new political party at Melur in Madurai district on March 15.
The new outfit would serve as a platform “until the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) is retrieved completely,” Mr. Dhinakaran said in a statement on Sunday. At 9 a.m. on March 15, the new party’s name and flag would be announced, followed by the hoisting of the party’s flag.
Incidentally, the State Legislative Assembly is also convening on March 15.
A day before she surrendered before a Bengaluru prison following her conviction in the disproportionate assets case in February last year, Jayalalithaa’s former aide V.K. Sasikala appointed her nephew Mr. Dhinakaran as the party’s deputy general secretary.
However, the AIADMK’s ‘two leaves’ symbol was frozen by the Election Commission in March last year following a revolt and the party eventually sidelined Sasikala and declared all her appointments null and void in August.
‘Remove Edappadi, OPS’
In November, the Election Commission allotted the ‘two leaves’ symbol to the faction led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam. However, Mr. Dhinakaran managed to pull off a massive victory over the AIADMK as an Independent candidate (contesting with the ‘pressure cooker’ as his symbol) in the R.K. Nagar bypoll the next month.
The faction led by Mr. Dhinakaran has been claiming that it enjoyed the support of the general public and vowed to “retrieve” the AIADMK from its present leadership.
Mr. Dhinakaran had also applied to the EC with his choice of three names for the party. Sasikala’s nephew has also been touring several parts of the State over the past few months, as part of his efforts to drum up support from the general public.
His supporters and former MLAs have been saying that if the AIADMK leaders removed six individuals, including Chief Minister Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister Panneerselvam, Mr. Dhinakaran would accept the others and lead the party.
