With the AMMK coming a cropper in the Assembly election with its leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran losing in Kovilpatti, the party’s future role in Tamil Nadu politics has come under question.
Mr. Dhinakaran formed an alliance comprising the DMDK, the AIMIM and the SDPI with a mission to put up a creditable show and “retrieve the AIADMK”. However, with the AIADMK emerging as a decent Opposition party, there is a view that the cadre of the AMMK could return to the parent party in due course.
The AMMK’s poor show, though its vote share is yet to be computed, has also shown that the AIADMK has remained untouched even though there were theories that the vote bank primarily from the dominant Mukkulathor community could disturb the AIADMK in the southern districts.
The decision of V.K. Sasikala, former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s aide, to step aside from politics in the run-up to the election, appears to have taken the wind out of the AMMK’s sails, though a few persons who were denied tickets had joined it.
