Booked for Bribe, Dinakaran Finds His List of Supporters Thinning

Chennai: With each step the Delhi Police are taking towards AIADMK deputy chief TTV Dinakaran, his posse of supporters seem to be taking one back.

The second-most powerful leader in the party now finds himself increasingly isolated with ministers and party leaders seen as loyalists of his jailed aunt VK Sasikala giving thought to O Panneerselvam’s offer of a reunion.

Panneerselvam’s offer has a rider — no Sasikala and no Dinakaran. But that didn’t stop nine ministers of the Edappadi Palaniswami cabinet from going into a huddle late on Monday to discuss the turn of events. State finance minister Jayakumar even said the condition would be “discussed” by the MLAs. That discussion probably took place on Tuesday morning when party MLAs met onboard INS Chennai.

Perhaps aware of the shifting loyalties, Dinakaran set out to meet his aunt in a Bengaluru jail on Monday morning, hours after the Delhi Police named him in an FIR for allegedly trying to influence the war over the party’s electoral symbol.

He returned to Chennai on Tuesday morning and his first meeting was with his legal team at his residence.

The FIR was filed after the arrest of Dinakaran’s alleged middleman, Sukesh Chandrashekhar, from a five-star hotel in Delhi.

The duo had reportedly struck a Rs 50 crore deal to try and influence officials within the Election Commission. Sources in the Delhi Police said the focus is on Delhi-centric investigation for now, following which Dinakaran would be summoned to join the investigation.