T T V Dhinakaran draws crowds, DMK’s attention as he returns to poll fray from prime TN seat

IT HAS been a long, hard ride for T T V Dhinakaran since the death of J Jayalalithaa in 2016 – first leaving him and his aunt V K Sasikala in the political wilderness, then landing him in the Centre’s cross-hairs and inside Tihar Jail, and now returning him into the fold of a BJP-led alliance in Tamil Nadu.

However, as the AMMK (Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam) leader campaigns in this seat, an AIADMK bastion that has elected many of its stalwarts, those seven-plus years seem to fall away.

Dhinakaran’s vehicle is stopped at regular intervals by people seeking to speak to him, leaving him overwhelmed. It is clear that the 60-year-old, once Jayalalithaa’s blue-eyed boy in the AIADMK, poses the tallest challenge to the ruling DMK-led alliance’s ambition of repeating its sweep of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, come April 19 voting day.

Five years ago too, Theni was the only seat not won by the DMK and its allies. The victor was then AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam’s son; Panneerselvam too is now part of the BJP alliance along with the AMMK.

Dhinakaran himself has represented the seat (which was at the time called Periyakulam) once, from 1999 to 2004.

Facing Dhinakaran from the DMK corner is one of his former close aides, Thanga Tamilselvan, who is banking on the DMK and allies’ expectation of a 40% cumulative vote share. In 2001, Tamilselvan had won from the Andipatti Assembly segment within the Theni seat – won in the past by AIADMK heavyweights M G Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa. Tamilsevan had later vacated Andipatti for Jayalalithaa, earning his place in AIADMK lore, though he is now fighting on the DMK ticket.

Dhinakaran and Tamilsevan have another thing in common: both belong to the powerful Thevar OBC group,