T. T. V. Dhinakaran

Thiruthurapoondi Thiruvenkatam Vivekananda Dhinakaran (born 13 December 1963)^[1][2] is an Indian politician and founding General Secretary of Amma Makkal Munneetra Kazhagam. His cadres revered him as Makkal Selvar.^{[clarification needed]} In the past he was the Treasurer of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Party and served as the Member of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. He was expelled from the AIADMK in August 2017.^[3][4] He also served as former Member of the 15th Tamil Nadu Assembly from Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar (2017-2021).^[5] He is the nephew of V. K. Sasikala. He won the highly anticipated RK Nagar by-election in December 2017. On 15 March 2018 Dhinakaran launched his political party named Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazhagam.^[6]

T. T. V. Dhinakaran
Member of the 15th Tamil Nadu Assembly for Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar
In office 24 December 2017 (2017-12-24) – 2 May 2021 (2021-05-02)
Speaker	P. Dhanapal
Preceded by	J. Jayalalithaa
Succeeded by	J. John Ebenezer
Member of the Indian Parliament for Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu
In office 30 June 2004 (2004-06-30) – 29 June 2010 (2010-06-29)
Chairperson	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Member of the Indian Parliament for Lok Sabha from Periyakulam
In office 13 October 1999 (1999-10-13) – 6 February 2004 (2004-02-06)
Speaker	G. M. C. Balayogi Manohar Joshi
Preceded by	R. Muthiah
Succeeded by	J. M. Aaroon Rashid
General Secretary of the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazhagam
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 April 2019
Deputy	M. Rengasamy G. Senthamizhan C. Shanmugavelu S. V. S. P. Manikaraja
Preceded by	postion established[a]
Deputy General Secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
In office 15 February 2017 – 20 September 2017
General Secretary	V. K. Sasikala
Preceded by	Su. Thirunavukkarasar
Succeeded by	K. P. Munusamy Natham R. Viswanathan
Treasurer of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
In office 20 July 2006 – 28 August 2007
General Secretary	J. Jayalalithaa
Preceded by	Dindigul C. Srinivasan
Succeeded by	O. Panneerselvam
Personal details
Born	(1963-12-13) 13 December 1963 (age 61) Thiruthuraipoondi, Madras State, India (present-day Tamil Nadu, India)
Political party	Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (from 15 March 2018)
Other political affiliations	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (until 2017) Independent (2017-2018)
Spouse	Anuradha ​ (m. 1992)​
Children	Jaya Harini (daughter)
Parents	T. Vivekanandam (father) V. Vanithamani (mother)
Relatives	V. K. Sasikala (aunt)
Residence(s)	Jaya Harini 5, Venkateshwara Nagar 4th street, Adyar, T. Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Businessman politician

Early life

Dhinakaran was born on 12 December 1963. He is the son of Sasikala's sister Vanithamani, T. Vivekanandam Muniyaraiyar. His younger brother, Baskaran "Bas", had a brief stint in cinema as the protagonist in Thalaivan (2014).^[7]

Dhinakaran is described as a cool-headed and religious person.^[7]

Political career

Dhinakaran was a Member of Lok Sabha, representing Periyakulam from 1999 to 2004,^[8][9] and was runner-up in the seat at 2004 general election when he was defeated by J. M. Aaron Rashid. In the 2017 R.K. Nagar by-election, he defeated AIADMK's candidate E. Madhusudhanan with a huge margin of votes as an independent candidate.^[10] He assumed the office of MLA on 29 December 2017.

Dinakaran was reinducted into the AIADMK and appointed deputy general secretary on 15 February 2017, hours before V. K. Sasikala left to surrender herself in the Bengaluru court to serve the jail term in a disproportionate assets case. He was expelled from the party in August 2017^[3] and launched his own party, Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), on 15 March 2018.^[6] Dhinakaran announced that Sasikala would be the general secretary while he would be the deputy general secretary.^[11] On 19 April 2019, he was elected as the general secretary.^[12]

He failed to win his seat to Kadambur Raju in Kovilpatti Assembly constituency in 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.^[13][14] Dhinakaran anncounced on 11 March 2024 that his party was joining the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 Indian general election, assuring it of unconditional support.^[15] It failed to win from any of the two seats, although Dhinakaran managed to become the runner-up in the elections to the Theni Lok Sabha constituency.^[16]

Lawsuit

On 17 April 2017, Delhi police registered a case against Dhinakaran regarding an allegation of attempting to bribe the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the AIADMK's election symbol.^[17] It was claimed that a middle-man named Sukesh Chandrasekhar was raided and arrested in Delhi and was found with 13 million, allegedly meant as a bribe for the ECI in exchange for the symbol. Dinakaran was charged with conspiracy and corruption in the case.^[18] The Tis Hazari Special Court granted him bail^[19] on the grounds that the police had failed to identify the public official allegedly bribed, accepting the argument made by his lawyer Aman Lekhi.^[20]

Elections

Electoral performance

This section is transcluded from Kovilpatti Assembly constituency. (edit | history)

2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election: Kovilpatti^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	AIADMK	Kadambur Raju	68,556	38.13%	−0.83
	AMMK	T. T. V. Dhinakaran	56,153	31.23%	New
	CPI(M)	K. Srinivasan	37,380	20.79%	New
	NTK	M. Gomathi	9,213	5.12%	+3.87
	MNM	K. Kathiravan	3,667	2.04%	New
	NOTA	NOTA	1,124	0.63%	−0.79
Margin of victory			12,403	6.90%	6.64%
Turnout			1,79,804	67.62%	0.92%
Rejected ballots			576	0.32%
Registered electors			2,65,915
	AIADMK hold		Swing	-0.83%

This section is transcluded from Radhakrishnan Nagar Assembly constituency. (edit | history)

2017 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly By-election: Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar^{[22] [23][24]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	T. T. V. Dhinakaran	89,013	50.32	N/A
	AIADMK	E. Madhusudhnan	48,306	27.31	−28.56
	DMK	N. Marudhu Ganesh	24,651	13.94	−19.2
	NTK	Kalaikottuthayam	3,802	2.15	N/A
	None of the Above	NOTA	2,373	1.34	−0.31
Margin of victory			40,707	23.01	+0.28
Turnout			1,76,890	77.68	+9.32
	Independent gain from AIADMK		Swing

Lok Sabha elections

This section is transcluded from Theni Lok Sabha constituency. (edit | history)

2024 Indian general election: Theni

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DMK	Thanga Tamil Selvan	571,493	50.08	N/A
	AMMK	T. T. V. Dhinakaran	292,668	25.65	13.39
	AIADMK	V. T. Narayanasamy	155,587	13.63	29.33
	NTK	J. Madhan	76,834	6.73	4.36
	NOTA	None of the above	11,336	0.99	0.08
Margin of victory			2,78,825	24.43	17.86
Turnout			11,41,219
	DMK gain from AIADMK		Swing

General election 2004

General election, 2004: Periyakulam

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC	J. M. Aaron Rashid	346,851	49.51	n/a
	AIADMK	T.T.V. Dhinakaran	325,696	46.49	+0.85
Majority			21,155	3.02	−3.86
Turnout			700,603	66.29	+6.93
	INC gain from AIADMK		Swing	+49.51
	UPA gain from AIADMK		Swing

General election 1999

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	AIADMK	T.T.V. Dhinakaran	303,881	45.6%	-6.2%
	DMK	P.Selvendran	258,075	38.8%	-1.6%
	PT	Mansoor Alikhan	87,429	13.1%	+9.8%
	Dhiravida Thelugar Munnetra Kazhagam	P.R.Jeganathan	1,414	0.2%	New
	IND	A.Sadayandi	1,327	0.2%	New
	IND	C.Rajagopal	1,256	0.2%	New
	IND	K.Elamurugan	1,105	0.2%	New
Majority			45,806	6.9%	-4.5%
Turnout			665,824	59.4%	+2.2%
	AIADMK hold

Notes

1. V. K. Sasikala as unregistered party

References

1. "About Our General Secretary". Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam. 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
2. "Shri LED. T. V. Dhinakaran CMRajya Sabha profile". Rajya Sabha. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
3. "Sasikala to be expelled from AIADMK, OPS settles for deputy CM". The News Minute. 21 August 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
4. NARASIMHAN, T. E. (28 August 2017). "Ruling AIADMK expels Sasikala & Dhinakaran, plans to retrieve Jaya TV". Business Standard India.
5. "Dhinakaran wins RK Nagar bypoll, creates history in Tamil Nadu". Pradeep Kumar. 24 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
6. "Dhinakaran launches party, names it 'Amma Makkal Munetra Kazhagam' after Jayalalithaa". Hindustan Times. 15 March 2018.
7. "The other side of TTV Dinakaran: All you didn't know about the AIADMK leader". India Today. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
8. "Statistical Report on General Elections, 1999 to the 13th Lok Sabha" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 85. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
9. "Dhinakaran, Shri T. T. V. Lok Sabha Profile". Lok Sabha. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
10. "Dhinakaran wins RK Nagar bypoll, creates history in Tamil Nadu". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
11. Shalini Lobo (21 March 2018). "Sasikala will be General Secretary, I will be Deputy General Secretary of AMMK, says TTV Dhinakaran". India Today. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
12. "Dhinakaran elected AMMK general secretary". The Hindu. 20 April 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
13. "How smaller parties played big spoilers in Tamil Nadu election". The Indian Express. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
14. "DMDK fades into oblivion, is it death knell". The New Indian Express. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
15. Koushik, Janardhan (14 March 2024). "Lok Sabha polls: TTV Dhinakaran's AMMK to join BJP-led NDA, assures unconditional support". The Indian Express.
16. Tamilarasu, Prabhakar (4 June 2024). "Dhinakaran trails by over 2 lakh votes in Theni but pushes AIADMK to 3rd place & 'sends a message'". ThePrint. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
17. Biswas, Tanima; Shukla, Shuchi (17 April 2017). "Dinakaran Allotted 50 Crores To Buy AIADMK Symbol, Audio Proof Too: Cops". NDTV.
18. Jha, Rajshekhar (17 April 2017). "More trouble for TTV Dinakaran as Delhi police files bribery case against him". The Times of India.
19. "AIADMK symbol case: Delhi Court grants bail to TTV Dhinakaran – Times of India ►". The Times of India. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
20. "AIADMK Election Symbol Case: TTV Dhinakaran Seeks Bail, Police Opposes It". Retrieved 24 July 2018.
21. "Kovilpatti Election Result". Retrieved 9 August 2023.
22. "Form 21E (Return of Election)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
23. "EC announces by-election to Jayalalithaa's RK Nagar constituency, voting on April 12". Indian Express. 9 March 2017.
24. "R.K. Nagar bypoll | Live updates: Dhinakaran wins R.K. Nagar bypoll". The Hindu. 24 December 2017.

External links

• Official biographical sketch at Lok Sabha website