‘My aunt said she was stepping aside for now, told me to take up poll fight’

TALKING TO TOI ELECTIONS 2021

‘My aunt said she was stepping aside for now, told me to take up poll fight’

AMMK general secretary T T V Dhinakaran says the decision to step aside from politics by his aunt V K Sasikala was her own and that no one forced her to take the call. He denied the BJP had forced her to step aside or tried to bring the AIADMK and the AMMK together. In an interview to D Govardan amid his campaign in Tiruvannamalai on Wednesday, Dhinakaran exuded confidence that the AMMK-led alliance will triumph in the assembly election on the back of people’s yearning for a real change.

How is the response from the people to your campaign?

The response has been very good. The ground reality is reflecting the people’s yearning for change. They have understood that the present government has betrayed the public as well as those who anointed them to the position of power. On the other, the DMK has created an illusion, as it does in every election, that it is coming to power. But the people are ready to demolish that illusion. People are looking for a real change and the AMMK has formed a formidable alliance with the DMDK, SDPI and Owaisi’s AIMIM as well as several smaller local parties, besides several organisations and fronts too have extended their support. Moreover, people are wholeheartedly supporting us and will ensure that our alliance wins with a clear majority.

DMK president M K Stalin says his alliance will win all 234 seats, while AIADMK minister S P Velumani has said their alliance will win more than 200. How many seats have they left for your alliance?

Had Velumani said his party will lose more than 200 seats, it would be closer to reality. The DMK always creates a hype that it will emerge the winner right from the days of Kalaignar (M Karunanidhi) and the best example was the 1980 assembly election, where the DMK had even printed victory posters and had kept them ready for his birthday. But the people re-elected MGR as the CM. The DMK cannot aspire to get people’s votes, beyond those of the allied parties. I am sure people will repose faith in the AMMK.

Your aunt V K Sasikala was given a rousing welcome on her return. So, why did she step aside from politics?

There were a lot of expectations. But not from us. After returning from Bengaluru, she wanted to get into politics full-time. But the repeated statements by AIADMK leaders that she is not welcome, hurt her. Did she say that she wanted to rejoin the AIADMK? It is one thing that someone wants to join and another if the party leaders make statements on their own. It was these people, who had elected her as their general secretary and fell at her feet to accept that post. Watching these developments, she expressed her anguish and told me that she was stepping aside for the present and asked me to go ahead with my electoral fight.

There were reports that the BJP had forced her to step aside.

No. It is not true. No one from the BJP spoke either to me or her. No one coerced her to step aside.

There were reports that I too have been forced to step away from politics. But I informed the media that no one can coerce me and that the first list of candidates will be released on March 10 and I did that. Some vested interests created such rumours.

Who are these vested interests?

Our political enemies and our betrayers, besides the media which supports them and the agents who participate in political debates on television channels. The state is also involved in spreading such rumours. It is definitely an act of those, whose poll prospects will be affected by the AMMK.

There were also reports that the BJP intervened to bring the AIADMK and the AMMK together.

No. There were no talks like that. I also saw such media reports. But no one, especially from the BJP, spoke to me.

There were reports that O Panneerselvam was in touch with you.

It is a blatant lie. We never spoke to each other. In the past people had even spread rumours about Amma (J Jayalalithaa) having a daughter.

Such rumours are the handiwork of our enemy – the DMK or the betrayers – Palaniswami and Company.

But why is Edappadi Palaniswami so cut up with you?

It is because of the fear of losing. To reclaim the AIADMK democratically is our aim. That is why the AMMK was formed and he now fears that our party will defeat them. They are only banking on purchasing votes. But they know they will not succeed. People also know that it is their money that is coming back to them and they will take it. But we will do an RK Nagar across the state.

On Tuesday, O Panneerselvam told a news channel that he never doubted Sasikala in the death of Jayalalithaa and the party is open to examine her re-entry to the party. What do you think made him take such a stand now?

I also saw that. There is opposition building against him in his constituency and the fear of losing could have force him to say such a thing now. He started a ‘dharmayudh’ against our family and the world knows what he had said about us then. If he is changing his stand, it must be due to belated realisation of his folly. You have to pose the question to him. But since this is happening closer to the election, one has to doubt his realisation.

While you attack both the DMK and the AIADMK, you seem to be silent on the BJP in your campaign.

In 2019, it was the Lok Sabha election and hence I had to attack the BJP.

This is an assembly election and the fight is only between the AMMK, the DMK and the AIADMK. Whenever a move is made by the BJP against the interests of Tamil people, I attack it.

Contesting elections is an expensive affair. With your aunt backing out, how will you manage without her financial support?

We are heading into the election based on the strength of our cadres and the personal financial strength of our candidates. Is Chinnamma (Sasikala) running a finance company to fund me? What support can she provide, when she herself has come out of prison after four years.

If as predicted by opinion polls, the DMK wins, is there a possibility of the AIADMK and the AMMK coming together?

First, the cadres will come together. The AIADMK leaders with moneybags and all those who spoke ill about us will look for alternative pastures out of fear. If by chance, please note, only by chance, the DMK comes to power, everyone will know where these leaders, with skeletons in their cupboards, will be. All those who are not at fault or don’t have any dirty baggage will come together as Amma’s cadres.

Will it be a unified AIADMK then?

Only the cadres will decide when that happens.

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