Chennai: Despite joining forces with the BJP out of political necessity, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader TTV Dhinakaran is trailing by 2,24,441 votes against his former aide and DMK candidate Thanga Tamilselvan in Tamil Nadu’s Theni constituency.
However, Dhinakaran, who was ousted from the AIADMK, may find some consolation in pushing his former party’s candidate, VT Narayanasamy, to third place. Since the days of the late former chief minister MG Ramachandran (MGR), Theni has been a stronghold of the AIADMK.
MGR contested from Andipatti, part of the Theni Lok Sabha constituency, in the 1984 assembly polls and won by a margin of 32,484 votes. Theni also is familiar ground for Dhinakaran, who contested the election for the constituency 20 years ago as an AIADMK candidate.
Even though Dhinakaran is trailing, political analysts said that he has won the perception battle in the Cauvery Delta and southern part of Tamil Nadu, where the Mukkulathor community — a cluster of Kallars, Maravars and Agamudayars — is socially and politically dominant.
“Dhinakaran may not have won, but pushing AIADMK to the third position proves that the Mukkulathor community stands behind Dhinakaran,” said political commentator Raveendran Duraisamy, adding that the community’s support is likely to help Dhinakaran in the 2026 assembly elections.
P Senthilnathan, AMMK’s lone councillor from the Trichy corporation who contested in the Tiruchirappalli Lok Sabha constituency, was pushed to fourth place with 96,941 votes, behind DMK ally MDMK, AIADMK, and the Naam Tamizhar Party, a Tamil nationalist party.
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AMMK’s performance so far
After the general council of AIADMK sacked Dhinakaran, the nephew of former CM J Jayalalithaa’s close aide VK Sasikala, he floated his party in 2018.
AMMK contested all 39 constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the bypolls in 22 assembly constituencies, securing a vote share of about 5.27 percent in the Lok Sabha election and 7 percent in the assembly bypolls.
Election data shows that Dhinakaran’s AMMK played spoiler for AIADMK in at least 10 Lok Sabha constituencies, where the victory margin for DMK candidates was less than the votes secured by AMMK candidates.
In the 2021 assembly elections, Dhinakaran had formed a third front with actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). However, it failed to score well and ended up securing only 2.35 percent of votes across the 165 seats it had contested. The alliance led by AMMK secured an overall vote share of 2.85 percent.
After this verdict, Dhinakaran went into political hibernation, and has now come back to test his political prospects.
“Even though he is trailing behind, he has outperformed the AIADMK candidate nominated by Edappadi K Palaniswami. This performance sends a message to the AIADMK leaders that they do not have a hold over the party units in the southern districts, where Mukkulathors are dominant,” political analyst Tharasu Shyam said.
Possibility of a reunion
Political analysts also suggest there might be a call for a united AIADMK, bringing Dhinakaran and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam back into the party.
“It is inevitable. Leaders are answerable after every election. As we have seen in the past, only after the drubbing in the 2021 assembly polls, there was a call for single leadership under Palaniswami. Similarly, after a few months, political tremors may start bursting inside the AIADMK. Since Dhinakaran has surpassed the AIADMK candidate, there may be a chance that he will be brought back to the party,” Raveendran said.
The 60-year-old AMMK founder belongs to the Mukkulathor community from Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district in Tamil Nadu. He had first contested the Lok Sabha polls from the Periyakulam constituency (later absorbed in Theni) in 1999. In 2004, he lost the Theni seat to Congress candidate J.M. Aaron Rashid. However, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by AIADMK matriarch Jayalalithaa.
After Jayalalithaa’s death, VK Sasikala was made the general secretary of the party. But after the Supreme Court upheld Sasikala’s conviction in a disproportionate assets case, Dhinakaran was appointed deputy general secretary.
Soon after, due to pressure from the Panneerselvam camp, Dhinakaran was sacked from the party, leading him to found AMMK in 2018.
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