After RK Nagar debacle, AIADMK sacks Dhinakaran loyalists

 The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Monday sacked six office-bearers supporting sidelined party leader TTV Dhinakaran, a day after he won the RK Nagar bypoll here with a thumping margin of 40,000 votes. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by top party office-bearers O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami, AIADMK sources said. Along with that, it decided to remove four Dhinakaran aides as party's district
secretaries.

Five senior functionaries have also been removed from AIADMK.  The party decided to remove, among others, key Dhinakaran aides P Vetrivel and Thangatamilselvan, AIADMK district secretary in Chennai and Theni respectively, the sources said. Though AIADMK supporters are divided between Dhinakaran and the Palaniswami-led camps, many office-bearers from the rival group hold party posts.

In a jolt to the ruling dispensation, Dhinakaran defeated its candidate E Madhusudhanan by 40,707 votes in the December 21 RK Nagar bypoll. The votes were counted yesterday. The party alleged that TTV Dhinakaran won owing to tacit understanding with DMK. The main opposition party in the state, DMK finished third in the RK Nagar bypoll.