EPS withdraws case against Dhinakaran

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami withdrew a case filed against expelled leader TTV Dhinakaran, a week after his party restored its alliance with the BJP. The move comes after Union home minister Amit Shah said that he will not interfere in the internal affairs of the AIADMK.

Dhinakaran who heads Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), a breakaway faction of the AIADMK joined hands with the BJP ahead of last year’s parliamentary elections. EPS has so far remained steadfast against the BJP’s idea of a “united AIADMK” comprising the trio he expelled— Dhinakaran, his aunt V K Sasikala and O Panneerselvam (who is also in the NDA’s fold now).

Palaniswami had filed this case in a civil court in Chennai against Dhinakaran in 2019, a year after he had launched AMMK, to stop him from using a flag similar to that of AIADMK’s with the photo of their leader J Jayalalithaa in the middle. “Palaniswami withdrew the case on April 16. On the same day, the city civil court dismissed the civil suit and has now closed the case,” a legal counsel of Dhinakaran said not wishing to be named.

Before Sasikala was imprisoned in Bengaluru for four years in the disproportionate assets case in February 2017 as AIADMK’s interim general secretary, she appointed Dhinakaran as the party’s deputy general secretary and left the reigns of the party and the government to Palaniswami . OPS at the time was rebelling against Sasikala. In a turnaround, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam joined hands and in August 2017, they sacked Dhinakaran and Sasikala from the party. The same fate would befall Panneerselvam five years later. In July 2022, Palaniswami expelled Panneerselvam also from the party. Panneerselvam has moved the Madras high court and Supreme Court repeatedly against his expulsion but received no legal respite and Palaniswami has remained AIADMK’s sole leader.

In 2023, the Palaniswami -led AIADMK left the NDA in TN solely blaming its state president K Annamalai for repeatedly provoking them by insulting their party leaders. 19 months later, on April 11 Union home minister Amit Shah was in Chennai, ensured a smooth transition of the BJP party chief post from Annamalai to party floor leader and former AIADMK man Nainar Nagendran and announced that the parties will fight the 2026 TN assembly elections together. When asked if Panneerselvam and Dhinkaran will remain in the NDA since Palaniswami continues to say he will not take them, Shah said that he will not “interfere into the internal affairs of the AIADMK.”

Both Dhinakaran and Panneerselvam (who was an independent candidate with NDA’s backing) lost in the 2024 parliamentary elections which was swept by the ruling DMK winning all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu. The BJP, Dhinakaran, and Panneerselvam have been calling for a “united AIADMK” to defeat the DMK which has won every election since 2019.

With Annamalai out of the post and Palaniswami withdrawing the case against Dhinakaran and Sasikala, it remains to be seen if the AIADMK leader will work alongside his foe-turned-friend-turned foe, Panneerselvam .