Dhinakaran launches party, calls it AMMK after Jayalalithaa: Top updates

Dhinakaran, who unveiled his new party's flag, made it clear the party symbol at present was 'pressure cooker' but he would attempt to retrieve Jayalalithaa's 'two leaves' symbol from AIADMK

Rebel All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader T T V Dhinakaran on Thursday floated his new political party, which he named the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, after the late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. Dhinakaran's party launch comes after the launch of Kamal Haasan's party Makkal Needhi Maiam, while Rajinikanth, who also announced his entry into Tamil Nadu politics, is yet to announce his party.   

Dhinakaran, who unveiled his new party's flag in the Madurai district, made it clear that while the party's symbol at present was the pressure cooker, he would attempt to retrieve Jayalalithaa's 'two leaves' symbol from AIADMK. He added that he would attempt to retrieve the AIADMK name, too. 

"We will win all upcoming elections from now by using the latest name and party flag...," the rebel AIADMK leader and independent member of the Tamil Nadu state Assembly said. 

The launch of the new party and unveiling of the flag comes two days after the Delhi High Court directed the Election Commission to allot a symbol and a suitable name for the AIADMK faction led by Dhinakaran. To date, he had called his faction AIADMK (Amma).   

Earlier this week, Dhinakaran had filed a caveat in the Supreme Court in connection with the Delhi High Court order on the party symbol matter.  

Here are the top 10 developments around the launch of T T V Dhinakaran's new political party:

1) Dhinakaran launches party, unfurls flag: Dhinakaran today set up his own political party and named it the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam after former chief minister Jayalalithaa, who was fondly referred to as 'Amma'. Dhinakaran also unveiled his new party's flag in Madurai district.  

2) New political party's name explained: While the name of the new party might sound similar to that of his original political party, the AIADMK, for those unversed in Tamil, its meaning is different.  

Loosely translated, the name of the new party, the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, can be explained thus: 'Amma' refers to mother (Jayalaithaa), 'Makkal' means people, 'Munnetra' means development, and 'Kazhagam' means party. The name of the original party, the AIADMK, can be loosely translated to All India Anna Dravidian Progress Federation. The 'Anna' stands for the state's first chief minister, Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai.  

3) New flag bares Jayalalithaa's image: Dhinakaran, who has the support of several dissident party workers and leaders, said the new outfit would capture power in the state and unveiled the party's flag, which features the image of a smiling Jayalalithaa in the middle. The flag is black on top and red below with white in the middle.  

4) Dhinakaran intends to retrieve original symbol: The symbol of the new party is a pressure cooker. Speaking at the launch of his party, Dhinakaram said: "Till we retrieve the AIADMK name and symbol, we will use this name, symbol (pressure cooker) and new flag." The AIADMK two leaves symbol was hotly contested and is a priced political possession. 

Last week, the Delhi High Court directed the Election Commission to allot a common symbol, preferably that of 'pressure cooker', and a name to the AIADMK (Amma) faction led by T T V Dhinakaran. 

Dhinakaran earlier told the Delhi High Court that he preferred the pressure cooker symbol that he used during the RK Nagar bypoll. He had contested the bypoll as an independent candidate and won the constituency that fell vacant after Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016.

5) Delhi HC rejects Palaniswami-Panneerselvam group's contentions in symbol case: The order came on an application by Dhinakaran in his main petition challenging an EC order of November 23 last year, which had allotted the 'two leaves' symbol to the group headed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam who opposed grant of any relief in the matter. 

The interim plea had sought the allocation of a name and symbol till the pendency of the main petition, claiming that otherwise, the poll panel might declare it as a separate party. Dhinakaran had asked for the pressure cooker symbol as under it he had in December last year won the Radha Krishnan Nagar Assembly by-election with a margin of over 40,000 votes.

During the hearing of the application, he had also suggested three names for his faction -- All India Amma Anna Dhravidar Munnetra Kazhagam, MGR Amma Dravidar Munnetra Kazhagam, and MGR Amma Dhravidar Kazhagam. 

The Palaniswami-Panneerselvam group had opposed Dhinakaran's plea on several grounds, including that his faction has to register itself as a separate party to get a name and symbol and that the appropriate forum for the matter was the Madras High Court. Rejecting their contentions, the court said that Dhinakaran's faction cannot be compelled to register as a new political party and then apply to EC for a symbol as then his plea laying claim to the two-leaves symbol would become a fait accompli.

Another reason given by the court to reject the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam group's contention was that there had been "no final determination of the question as to which is the splinter group and which group truly/actually represents the AIADMK party". 

6) Dinakaran files caveat in SC: Dhinakaranon on Monday filed a caveat in the Supreme Court in connection with the Delhi High Court order on the party symbol matter. 

7) Brief history of tussle over the 'two leaves' symbol: The EC in March last year had given the 'hat' symbol to the Sasikala-Dhinakaran group after it froze the use of the 'two-leaves' symbol to which the group led by Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam had also laid claim. The Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction had at the same time been granted the 'electric pole' symbol.  

However, on November 23, 2017, the poll panel had ruled in favour of the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction by allotting the 'two-leaves' symbol to them.

The symbol issue has been lingering since April last year in the aftermath of the announcement of the by-poll to Radha Krishnan Nagar constituency in Tamil Nadu following the death of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in December 2016. 

Earlier, rival factions led by Sasikala and Panneerselvam had staked claim over the symbol. Palaniswami was then in the Sasikala camp. Later, a large number of legislators led by Palaniswami revolted against Sasikala. 

8) Dhinakaran loyalists present at launch: Former ministers V Senthil Balaji and P Palaniappan, senior leaders such as S Anbazhagan, disqualified MLAs and Dhinakaran loyalists, including P Vetrivel, and Thanga Tamil Selvan, were among those who participated at the event. Speakers at the meeting lambasted the Chief Minister K Palaniswami-led regime and said it was made up of betrayers.   

9) Ruling AIADMK likens Dhinakaran to a 'mosquito'. Reacting to the launch of Dinakaran's party, Tamil Nadu Minister D Jayakumar said, "It was basically a mosquito, when it came and when it flew back no one knew." He added, "It was a 'shani' over our party which has now gone." 

10) Tamil Nadu politics hotting up: The announcement of Dhinakaran's new party comes as Tamil Nadu politics has been steeped in turmoil since the passing away of chief minister Jayalalithaa. Further, the development comes weeks after actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan floated his party 'Makkal Needhi Maiam' in Madurai. On December 31, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth had also announced his decision to enter Tamil Nadu politics but he has yet to launch a party.  

With agency inputs