Dhinakaran names his party Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam after Jayalalithaa

T T V Dhinakaran, a rebel leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and an independent member of the Tamil Nadu state Assembly, on Thursday set up his own party and named it the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam after former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who was fondly referred to as ‘Amma’. Dhinakaran, who had earlier been sidelined from the AIADMK, also unveiled his new party’s flag in Madurai district. To loosely translate the name of the new party, ‘Amma’ refers to mother (Jayalaithaa), Makkal means people, Munnetra means development, and Kazhagam means party. “Till we retrieve the AIADMK name and symbol, we will use this name, symbol (pressure cooker) and new flag,” Dhinakaram said. Meanwhile, the recently elected MLA Tamil Nadu Budget session, which would have been his first Budget after being elected from the R K Nagar constituency in a recent bypoll. The announcement of the new party comes weeks after actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan floated his party 'Makkal Needhi Maiam' in Madurai. On December 31, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth had also announced his decision to enter politics but he has yet to launch a party. Also, the development comes two days after the Delhi High Court directed the Election Commission of India to allot a symbol and a suitable name for the AIADMK faction that Dhinakaran leads.

So far, he had called his faction AIADMK (Amma). The Election Commission had earlier opposed Dhinakaran’s plea for using AIADMK’s ‘two leaves’ symbol and told the high court that only a recognised political party could be allotted a symbol or name. In December, Dhinakaran had moved the court after the Election Commission had awarded the ‘two leaves’ symbol to the AIADMK faction led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam. Dhinakaran earlier told the Delhi High Court that he preferred the pressure cooker symbol that he used during the RK Nagar bypoll. He had contested the bypoll as an independent candidate and won the constituency that fell vacant after Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016.