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States » SouthPosted at: Apr 17 2025 4:50PM


After returning to NDA fold, EPS withdraws AIADMK flag misuse case against Dhinakaran

Chennai, Apr 17(UNI) Days after firming up the deal in returning back to the
NDA fold, AIADMK General Secretary and Leader of the Opposition Edappadi
K Palaniswami has withdrawn a long-standing civil suit against his bete noire
and AMMK Founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran over the alleged misuse of the AIADMK
party flag.
Mr Dhinakaran along with another ousted leader and former Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister O Panneerselvam were already part of the NDA alliance even before
the ties were revived by the BJP with the Dravidian major for the 2026 Assembly
polls.
Mr Dhinakaran is the nephew of V K Sasikala, a close confidante of late AIADMK
leader J Jayalalithaa. Ms Sasikala who was elected as interim general secretary
of the AIADMK in the aftermath of Ms Jayalalithaa's death, was also ousted from
the Party.
When a query was posed to BJP master poll strategist and Union Home Minister
Amit Shah while announcing revival of ties with AIADMK, on whether Mr OPS and
Dhinakaran will continue to be part of the alliance or else he favoured an unified
AIADMK to face the elections, he said the BJP would not interfere in the internal
affairs of the AIADMK.
In this backdrop and in a significant development that could trigger possible political
realignments, AIADMK Mr Palaniswami (EPS) has withdrawn a long-standing civil
suit against Dhinakaran over the alleged misuse of the AIADMK party flag on
Wednesday.
The suit, which was filed in 2017, challenged Dhinakaran using a flag for his party
—Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK)—that closely resembled the AIADMK’s
official flag.
On Wednesday, a city civil court in Chennai dismissed the case following EPS’s
decision to withdraw it.
EPS had originally filed the case claiming that the AMMK flag, bearing a red and
black colour scheme with the image of former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, was
“deceptively similar” to the AIADMK flag.
By adopting similar colours and adding Jayalalithaa’s image to the flag, the AMMK
was allegedly attempting to mislead the public and exploit the legacy of the AIADMK,
EPS had contended in the original suit.
Neither EPS nor Dhinakaran has officially commented on the reasons behind the
case withdrawal.
However, the decision marks a notable de-escalation in what was once a fierce
intra-party feud that led to the split in the AIADMK after Jayalalithaa’s death,
induction of Sasikala and Dhinakaran, their ouster, uniting of warring factions
led by EPS and OPS (leading to dual leadership), before Mr Panneerselvam
was expelled from the party for revolting against Party's move to restore back
the unitary leadership.
UNI GV 1635
Tags: #After returning to NDA fold# EPS withdraws AIADMK flag misuse case against Dhinakaran
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