Dhinakaran vows to 'retrieve' AIADMK, ruling party lashes out

AMMK leader TTV Dhinakran Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the AIADMK leadership, saying the ruling party has "lost its identity" and was "stuck" due to a "few selfish" people.

The ousted AIADMK leader also claimed that his Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) would 'retrieve' the ruling party.

In an apparent reference to Dhinakaran, the AIADMK dubbed him an 'overnight' leader rejected by the people.

"One cannot deny the fact that the party has lost its identity and ideology and veered away from the path laid down by Amma (the late J Jayalalithaa). It is now stuck due to a few selfish persons," Dhinakaran said without naming anyone.

He was apparently targeting AIADMK Coordinator O Panneerselavam and the Joint Coordinator K Palaniswami, with whom he is in a running feud for control of the ruling party.

Palaniswami is Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu while Panneerselvam is his deputy.

In a letter to partymen ahead of the AIADMK founding day on October 17, Dhinakaran said while the late Chief Minister M G Ramachandran had launched it, Jayalalithaa had taken it forward and made it a popular movement in the state.

His jailed aunt VK Sasikala had stood "solidly" by Jayalalithaa during her political journey, he said.

But post Jayalalithaa's death in 2016, "hegemonic forces" had taken over the AIADMK, Dhinakaran said in the letter.

Reiterating his oft repeated charge of the AIADMK being 'subservient' to the BJP-led government at the Centre, he said his AMMK would retrieve the AIADMK and restore it to its old pride.

The AIADMK has "lost its identity and become someone's slave," he said but did not name anyone.

Dhinakaran claimed 90 percent of AIADMK workers were supporting AMMK and that the rest were in the ruling party due to "selfish motives."