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Owaisi's AIMIM joins hands with TTV, gets 3 seats in AMMK alliance
The AIMIM had said that they were invited to the DMK’s minority conference in January but the DMK distanced itself.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has tied up with TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) for the April 6 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. The AMMK has allotted the AIMIM three seats - Vaniyambadi, Krishnagiri and Sankarapuram.
A controversy broke out in December after the DMK’s minority wing secretary K Mastan met Owaisi in Hyderabad. The AIMIM had said that they were invited to the DMK’s minority conference in January during the meeting but the DMK, which already has two Muslim parties in its fold, distanced itself and denied that Owaisi was invited.
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Banking on their performance in the Bihar elections last year, Owaisi’s team in Tamil Nadu had previously said that their party had planned for a mega-conference in Chennai earlier in January but that didn’t materialise. The AIMIM joining hands with Dhinakaran came as an expected move as there were murmurs of Owaisi being in communication with actor-politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam. The AIMIM has contested previously in the 2016 assembly elections from the Vaniyambadi constituency but did not win.
Dhinakaran, an independent MLA, was elected from RK Nagar constituency in Chennai which fell vacant after late J Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016. Dhinakaran is the chief ministerial candidate for the AMMK which was floated in 2018 with supporters of his aunt VK Sasikala. The AIADMK in 2017 had expelled Sasikala and Dhinakaran and the latter vowed to form the government and reclaim the AIADMK. But his aunt’s decision to stay away from politics a few days ago has spoiled his plans. A day ago, a former AIADMK MLA, SG Subramanian, who was among the 18 disqualified legislators for supporting Dhinakaran, was re-inducted into the AIADMK.
