ONI Bureau: The landslide victory of convicted Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dhinakaran in RK Nagar bypoll, has stunned the political pundits in Tamil Nadu as well as India. Although BJP Subramanian Swamy and some Exit Polls hinted at TTV’s win, everyone still expected a tough fight in this triangular contest, which did not happen.
The battle for supremacy between EPS and OPS – two selfish leaders of AIADMK, who did nothing for the people, but indulged in power tussle, messing up things and later getting united to prevent collapse of the party, have lost the trust of people of Tamil Nadu, the results indicate.
People of Tamil Nadu had trust in Jayalalithaa and also respected Sasikala notwithstanding the corruption cases. They still preferred to go with TTV Dhinakaran while giving thumbs down to AIADMK. The DMK played its card perfectly. MK Stalin, a smart politician, had a tacit understanding with TTV, as he knew only the latter could challenge AIADMK in Jaya’s bastion.
TTV not only won the bypoll by over 40,000 votes, but also staked claim to be Jayalithaa’s real heir, as people who loved Jaya voted for him. DMK, which contested the poll in a strategic manner, finished third. But, official AIADMK candidate and senior leader E Madhusudanan, who held this seat before, had to bite the dust, signalling further turmoil in the AIADMK in the future.
RK Nagar bypoll had recorded 77% polling. Out of the 1,77,074 votes polled, Dhinakaran received 89,103 votes. E. Madhusudhanan of AIADMK got just 48,306 votes. DMK, which had received 57,673 votes in 2016, had to be content with just 24,651 votes, confirming a tactical vote transfer from DMK to TTV. The BJP polled even less than NOTA and finished a poor sixth with 1,368 votes.
Would DMK join hands with TTV Dhinakaran to dislodge and divide the AIADMK with BJP’s tacit support at the centre? It’s very much likely! With 2G taints removed from DMK now, the party may go aggressive to reach out to the masses in the coming days. TTV, who can’t defeat AIADMK alone, may go with DMK to trigger a collapse of EPS-OPS Govt sooner than later.