Why and how BJP is giving a new lease of life to AIADMK rebels

Chennai: At the height of his popularity in 2019, T T V Dhinakaran, the nephew of former CM late J Jayalalithaa's close aide V K Sasikala, said he did not possess "suicidal tendencies", in response to a question whether his Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) will ally with the BJP. 

On the other hand, O Panneerselvam, who stood-by as chief minister twice for J Jayalalithaa when she had to step down due to court cases, never had any qualms in admitting his infatuation towards the BJP. He even went to the extent of disclosing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in brokering peace between him and Edappadi K Palaniswami, the AIADMK general secretary.

Though they have had divergent opinions in the past, what brought TTV and OPS together is their “common enemy” in EPS, who expelled them from the AIADMK on different occasions, and the fact that they are Mukulathors, an umbrella term used to refer three dominant backward castes of Kallars, Agamudaiyars, and Maravars, spread across central and southern Tamil Nadu.

Alliance with BJP

Despite coming together, the TTV-OPS combination didn’t get much traction as many of the AIADMK functionaries and district secretaries continued to owe allegiance to EPS. However, their consistent opposition to EPS and 'influence' among Mukulathors have given them a new lease of political life, thanks to their striking an alliance with the BJP.

The duo, who once enjoyed the confidence of Jayalalithaa, is now part of the rainbow alliance that the BJP has stitched together against the “Dravidian ecosystem”, a term coined by the saffron party’s TN unit chief K Annamalai to refer to the DMK and AIADMK. 

The BJP believes TTV and OPS can make inroads into the vote bank of Mukulathors, who have traditionally supported the AIADMK since the days of the legendary MGR. Moreover, the BJP wants to use them as a stick to beat Palaniswami, who stood firm in his decision to walk out of the NDA ahead of Lok Sabha polls, by not relenting to the pressure exerted by the saffron party. 

Sentiments among Mukulathors

The party, through OPS and TTV, also wants to cash in on the sentiments against the AIADMK among a section of Mukulathors for its “systemic expulsion” of leaders from the community, including the duo and Sasikala, and add these votes into its kitty as the vote bank is spread across a dozen Lok Sabha constituencies.

It is a fact that Dhinakaran’s AMMK hurt the prospects of the AIADMK in many constituencies in south TN in the 2021 assembly polls, though it secured a mere 2.5 per cent of votes. 

Panneerselvam has already announced he will contest on an independent symbol from Ramanathapuram, and it is understood that Dhinakaran himself will enter the fray in Theni, both constituencies dominated by Mukulathors. 

What is the plan of TTV & OPS?

With the AIADMK contesting both seats — Dr V T Narayanasamy from Theni, and P Jeyaperumal from Ramanathapuram — OPS and TTV will aim to emerge as the runner-up, if not the winner, by pushing the AIADMK to the third spot. 

"The TTV clan and OPS will put their heart and soul to garner the votes of the Mukulathors to prove that they are politically relevant in the backdrop of the self-inflicted isolation of the Palaniswami group," senior journalist R Bhagwan Singh told DH.

The BJP, through this election, wants to show that it is not a political untouchable anymore in Tamil Nadu, and is using every strategy to achieve that goal, with TTV-OPS being one such. 

"If they relegate the AIADMK to the third position in Ramanathapuram and Theni, OPS and TTV will scream that the Mukulathors are with them, while questioning the AIADMK’s hold over the community. If that happens, they will become politically relevant once again as assembly elections are just two years away,” Singh added. 

Dhinakaran, who was banished from AIADMK by late J Jayalalithaa in 2010, was rehabilitated by his aunt Sasikala in 2017 before she left for Bengaluru to serve a four-year jail term in a disproportionate assets (DA) case. 

Sasikala appointed Dhinakaran as deputy general secretary of AIADMK and his problems began. Within months, the entire AIADMK cabinet, including Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, turned against him, allegedly at the behest of the BJP, forcing him to keep away from the party affairs. 

Dhinakaran rebelled against the AIADMK when Palaniswami joined hands with O Panneerselvam, and that is when the 18 MLAs sided with him and lost their posts subsequently. After his victory in the R K Nagar assembly by-election, Dhinakaran launched his AMMK banking on his “charisma”, and according to his former aides, this move led to his downfall.

With the AMMK’s performance in 2019 Lok Sabha polls not being on expected lines – the party scored 5.25 percent of votes – Dhinakaran went into a shell. His reading that his aunt Sasikala’s release from jail would create ripples in AIADMK and there would be an exodus to his party before the election also went wrong. 

After the 2021 debacle in which Dhinakaran himself lost from Kovilpatti constituency, the AIADMK rebel began courting the BJP, which took its own time to respond to his signals.