TTV Dhinakaran won't quit sans Sasikala's permission'

Chennai: Even while promising to keep away from AIADMK (Amma), its deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran on Wednesday refused to resign his post saying he would seek the advice of party general secretary V.K. Sasikala, who nominated him for the post.

A day after senior minister D. Jayakumar said senior ministers who discussed the party’s merger had decided to keep away Dhinakaran’s family from party activities, TTV spoke to the media here at his residence. “I heard that ministers had taken a decision to keep me away from the party. If they had called me for the meeting, I would have gone. I do not know why they took such a decision.” When reporters pressed on reasons for the ministers’ decision, Dhinakaran shot back “You should ask them. I do not know what is their fear. In public life, people should be bold to face anything. They should not be afraid of anything”. He said, “I don’t want to fight with my own partymen, who are like my brothers. I don’t want to show my strength and the party weak.”  He also pointed out that ministers K.A. Sengottaiyan and Dindigul C. Seenivasan who had met him did not say anything. To a query if he would resign from the deputy general secretary post, he said “The post was given to me by the general secretary. I will discuss the issue with her.”

When asked if he is planning to escape abroad, he said “My passport is with the court.”