A few days before, when the Tis Hazari court in Delhi granted bail to T.T.V. Dinakaran, the mood in Chennai, within one of the factions of the AIADMK, was upbeat. A few senior leaders including the AIADMK Lok Sabha MPs flew to Delhi to meet and greet their leader. On Saturday afternoon, as he reached Chennai, the AIADMK cadre crowd at the airport sent out a strong message that he is the party’s boss and would actively resume party work.
“I said I will step aside if a merger is to happen. AIADMK will continue to rule the state. But no merger has happened yet. I never said I will resign. I still continue as the deputy general secretary of the party,” he said, as he landed in Chennai on Sunday. Dinakaran did not stop there. He ensured that it was made clear to party cadres that he was back for good.
Arrested by the Delhi Crime Branch on charges of bribery to get back the frozen two leaves symbol, Dinakaran spent close to 45 days in Delhi's Tihar prison. But a cool-headed Dinakaran looks to come back with a bang. He has not lost his gentle smile and looks more determined than before.
Contrary to expectations, Dinakaran, on the very first day after walking out of the prison gates, made it clear that he will continue to call the shots in the party. He openly said that he will continue as the deputy general secretary of the party. Answering a question on how he looks at Sasikala’s banners been removed from the party head quarters, Dinakaran did not express his anger, but sent out a strong message that his aunt Sasikala and he are the general secretary and the deputy general secretary of the party respectively.
Two days after he came out of the jail, he has taken a much stronger political role and did not opt to sit inside the house. Unlike others in the Mannargudi family, he is capable of keeping the flock together, as he proved by being behind Edappadi Palanisamy on February 18 when he won the trust vote.
Unlike the other leaders in the party or other members of the Mannargudi family, he chose not to go to Jayalalithaa’s memorial and sit down to offer prayers but chose to set out straight to the Bengaluru prison and call on Sasikala, only to tell the party members that his family—both his aunt and himself—will continue to be in the helm of affairs. After the 30-minute long meeting with Sasikala, the message was even more stronger that he will continue as a proxy of Sasikala.
Dinakaran is a no-nonsense man who can handle any difficult situation with an ease. For these reasons, Jayalalithaa chose only Dinakaran from the Mannargudi family in the late 90s and early 2000s to represent the AIADMK in Delhi. He was the Lok Sabha MP, Rajya Sabha MP and served as the party’s treasurer for a brief period of time.
An engineering graduate, Dinakaran was not just a member of the party, but was once Jayalalithaa’s favourite. People close to him look at him as a loving, soft personality, who would never lose his cool. Dinakaran, though a polite character unlike others in the Mannargudi family, cannot be underestimated as he is more experienced politically and had an unending tryst with law—handling all the economic offences cases against him. His wife, Anuradha Dinakaran, who once headed the AIADMK-backed Jaya TV, is a strong-willed woman. She is believed to have told the people in the party that they had enough and it was time to give back. Sources also say that she is more determined that her husband call the shots in the party.
But with the cracks in Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy group coming out in the open and Dinakaran sending out strong gestures, it remains to be seen as to how far the party will go.