O Panneerselvam, D Jayakumar claim AMMK not a threat to AIADMK

CHENNAI: The AIADMK on Friday sought to ignore T T V Dhinakaran’s announcement that the AMMK would be registered as a political party. It would remain just an outfit and would not graduate into a political party, AIADMK said. “Only a negligible number of people has joined the AMMK,” said minister D Jayakumar.

Dhinakaran had put up a tough challenge to the AIADMK at the recent hustings. He could play spoilsport in the Thevar-dominated districts in southern Tamil Nadu.

“The AMMK will secure only 1%-2% votes and would not be recognized as a political party. They can at best register the party,” the minister said. A political party should secure 6% of the total valid votes polled during the general election and win at least one Lok Sabha seat and two assembly seats for it to be recognized as a state party.

In Madurai, deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam, when asked about Dhinakaran’s decision, said, “They (AMMK) can never stake claim over the AIADMK. We have been saying this from the beginning and they have realized it very late,” he said.

The AIADMK coordinator had waged a ‘dharmayudh’ against the Sasikala clan before merging his faction with the EPS group and rejoined the government to stake claim over the AIADMK symbol and party name. The Election Commission recognized the unified party in November 2017, after finding that the combine enjoyed the support of the majority members in its legislative and organizational wings.

The Delhi high court upheld the commission’s order in February. “The AIADMK is an iron fort and those who challenge the party will suffer. We will not,” said AIADMK spokesperson JCD Prabhakar. The AIADMK leaders pointed to the outfits floated by veterans R M Veerappan, S D Somasundaram and S Thirunavukkarasar to claim how Dhinakaran’s party also would fade into oblivion in future.