TTV Dhinakaran to announce decision on new party on Wednesday

After losing claim over AIADMK and its two leaves poll symbol, sidelined party leader and RK Nagar MLA TTV Dhinakaran on Tuesday announced that he would take a call on floating a political outfit on the birth anniversary of former chief minister MG Ramachandran on January 17.

"Considering the upcoming local body, Lok Sabha and the state elections, there is a need for an outfit to streamline the functioning of our cadres. Almost 90 per cent of the AIADMK cadres are with us," he said.

Dhinakaran, the nephew of jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala, lost the claim over AIADMK and its election symbol after the Election Commission of India ruled it in favour of chief minister Edappadi K Palanisami and his deputy O Panneerselvam in the run-up to the December 21 RK Nagar bypoll.

However, Dhinakaran pulled out a stunning victory by contesting as an independent candidate in the bypoll, which was marred in a controversy over distribution of money to voters, defeating the ruling AIADMK candidate by a margin of over 40,000 votes.

Speaking on his meeting with Sasikala in a Bengaluru prison, he said she has given him permission to do what he thinks is right. "I am going to consult my district secretaries and office bearers to decide on the next course of action," he said.

Sources close to Dhinakaran said that the decision to float a new outfit was taken in the view of the ensuing local body polls. "The Palanisami government wants to speed up the local body polls before we start our own party. So we decided to float a new outfit and to fight for the retrieval of the symbol. When Dhinakaran gets his control over the AIADMK, we will merge our outfit," said sources.

Background

• Sources said the decision to float a new outfit was taken in the view of the local body polls. 
• TTV Dinakaran has recently lost claim over AIADMK and its two leaves symbol.