RK Nagar win makes TTV Dinakaran Sasikala family’s political face

The first positive impact of the RK Nagar bypoll results for the winner TTV Dinakaran is that the outcome has effectively ended any opposition to him within the family and established himself as the sole representative of the family in politics.

The dissenting voices within the family, including Krishnapriya, niece of sidelined AIADMK leader VK Sasikala had fallen silent. She had openly opposed the release of a video footage showing former chief minister J Jayalalithaa during her treatment and accused Dinakaran of using it for personal political gains.

In an interview to a bi-weekly, she went to the extent of saying that the party could have remained united if Dinakaran had not been thrust into the party. She had also made her political ambitions clear and stated she was prepared for an active role in politics.

Jeyanand, son of Dhivakaran, was the only family member who stood by Dinakaran and openly supported his action.

However, after Dinakaran’s massive victory in the bypoll and his meeting with aunt Sasikala, the criticism within the family had stopped. His victory seems to have sealed the political ambitions of other family members, who were complaining to Sasikala against the activities of Dinakaran, who had finally convinced his aunt by winning people’s mandate in the by-election.

Though, most of the key family members worked for Dinakaran in the bypoll campaign, a third place for him or even a defeat could have raised questions over his role as the representative of the family in the state politics.