Dinakaran meets Sasikala in Bengaluru jail; Senior AIADMK leader says party has no truck with him

Ousted All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran on Monday reached Bengaluru's Parappana Agrahara jail to meet party leader and General Secretary V.K. Sasikala who was jailed in February in a Disproportionate Assets (DA) case.

A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Dinakaran and his aide Mallikarjun over allegedly bribing the Election Commission officials for the party's two leaves symbol. The Tis Hazari court granted bail to the duo on personal bond of Rs. five lakh, however, they were asked to surrender their passports. Sasikala appointed Dinakaran, her nephew, as her deputy before she went to jail to serve a four-year sentence for corruption.

He was sidelined by the party as it attempted a reunion with a rebel faction led by former Tamil Nadu chief minister O. Panneerselvam or OPS, whose main condition for a merger was that Sasikala and her family be kept away from the party and the government. Dinakaran and his aide Mallikarjuna were arrested in April by the Delhi crime branch police. The duo was charged with attempting to bribe election commission officials in the AIADMK symbol row to gain a favourable verdict.

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister and senior AIADMK (Amma) leader D Jayakumar today said party deputy general secretary T T V Dinakaran should stick to his stand of keeping away from party affairs. Reacting to Dinakaran's assertion that he will continue party work, Jayakumar said it was the party's unanimous view to hold on to its stand of having no dealings with Dinakaran, party general secretary V K Sasikala and their associates.

He said top party functionaries and ministers started deliberations following Dinakaran's assertion on June 3 that he will continue party work. "We are firm, and we are clear," the minister told reporters here. "We have no truck with him, we are not dependent on him." He said Dinakaran, Sasikala or their associates were not "in the background."

"He (Dinakaran) should stick to his stand that he will keep away from party," he said. After Tamil Nadu Ministers said on April 18 that they were dumping the top duo, Dinakaran had said he was stepping aside in deference to their wish. "We are leading Amma's government without anybody being in the background there is no doubt about it," he said.

The Tamil Nadu Cabinet on April 18 had revolted against Dinakaran and decided to keep him and his family out of the party and government. Dinakaran, who was recently released on bail after being in jail for a month in the Election Commission bribery case, had kicked up a fresh row on his role in the party when he said he would "continue party work" since he had said in April that he was keeping away from party affairs.