Chennai: Sidelined All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader TTV Dhinakaran on Friday filed his nomination for the RK Nagar bypoll and said that they will "teach a lesson to their opponents" in the upcoming elections.
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Also, speaking about the 'two leaves' symbol, Dhinakaran said, "Whatever symbol we get, we will accept it and teach lesson to our opponents in upcoming RK Nagar bypoll."

He further said that the 'two leaves' symbol is the symbol for which "Amma (late chief minister J Jayalalithaa) stood."

"Two leaves symbol is the symbol for which Amma stood and it shouldn't go to anti-people and traitor government," said Dhinakaran after filing nomination for RK Nagar bypoll in Chennai.

On Thursday, the ousted AIADMK leader approached the Delhi High Court challenging 'two leaves' symbol order of the Election Commission (EC).

Earlier in the month, the election watchdog had ruled that the party's faction led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palanisamy and his deputy, O Panneerselvam (EPS-OPS) would be entitled to use the name of the party and its reserved symbol, holding that it enjoyed majority in the party's legislative and organisational wings.

Following the ruling, Dhinakaran, while addressing party workers in Chennai last week, said, "I will win in RK Nagar by election and take back 'two leaves' symbol."

Backed by her aunt, Sasikala, Dhinakaran had also laid claim over the symbol after a power tussle ensued in the party following the death of Jayalalithaa.

Dhinakaran is also facing a court case in the two leaves symbol bribery case.

On November 23, a Delhi court pulled up the police once again for not filing supplementary chargesheet against Dhinakaran in the two leaves bribery case, who was granted bail on June 1 after being arrested on April 25.

According to police, arrested middleman Sukesh Chandrashekhar had tried to bribe the EC officials to get nod for using the symbol for Sasikala's faction of the AIADMK.

Meanwhile, the EC has fixed December 21 as the polling date for the RK Nagar by election.

Chennai: A new representative for RK Nagar constituency in Chennai, which fell vacant after the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December last year, must be elected by the end of the year, the Madras High Court ruled on Tuesday.

The opposition DMK had alleged in court that one lakh fake voters have been registered for the election in RK Nagar and it should not be held till corrections are made.

The high court has instructed the Election Commission to hold the bypoll before December 31.

The election for the state legislator or MLA from RK Nagar, which Jayalalithaa represented twice, was to be held in April, but was cancelled after huge wads of cash were found in Chennai.

TTV Dhinakaran, sidelined by the AIADMK after two factions of the party headed by Chief Minister E Palanasamy and O Panneerselvam merged, had said that he would contest the election as the candidate of the ruling AIADMK.

Dhinakaran is the nephew of VK Sasikala, who was Jayalalithaa’s closest aide.
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Sasikala is lodged in jail since February in the Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case.

Karthi’s flick to showcase the missionIn keeping with the trend of movies based on true incidents, actor Karthi’s latest action thriller Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru will depict one of the meticulously planned operations of the Tamil Nadu police that led to the gunning down of two members of the deadly Bawaria criminal tribes in Uttar Pradesh and arrest of others more than a decade ago.

The operation against the criminals was launched in January 2005 soon after the murder of AIADMK Gummidipoondi MLA Sudarsanam. When armed dacoits struck affluent houses along National Highways in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa ordered intensive action against the culprits.
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A special team led by the then Inspector-General of Police (North Zone) S. R. Jangid worked in closed coordination with the Uttar Pradesh police and Central intelligence agencies to track down Oma Bawaria, Bsura Bawaria, Vijay Bawaria and others.

The dacoits were also responsible for the murder of Congress leader Thalamuthu Natarajan in Salem and DMK leader Gajendran among others.

The teams worked for several weeks putting together bits and pieces of information and camped in remote locations in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab before killing Bsura Bawaria and Vijay Bawaria in an encounter.

The prime suspects Oma Bawaria and K Lakshman alias Ashok Bawaria were arrested and brought to Tamil Nadu where a special court awarded them death penalty.

The movie makers worked closely with Mr. Jangid, a recipient of the President’s Police Medal for Gallantry, who is presently elevated to the rank of Director-General of Police, and other officers involved in the operation to make the 161-minute film directed by Vinoth.

Starring Karthi and Rakul Preet Singh in the lead.

Mannargudi (TN): Days after Income Tax sleuths raided premises linked to the family of jailed AIADMK leader V K Sasikala, her brother V Divakaran has said that late chief minister J Jayalalithaa did not ensure any "protection" to his sister.

Since 1996, Sasikala has always been under a cloud of "inquiry", Divakaran said in an apparent reference to a spate of corruption cases filed against Jayalalithaa and his sister, who was a close aide of the late leader, after the AIADMK lost the assembly elections that year.
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"Amma (Jayalalithaa) utilised her fully, but went (died) without giving her any protection," he said without elaborating.

"Just imagine, if someone from your family happened to be with a powerful leader and did all the things said by the leader, and was still pushed to an unsafe situation later, then that is the best example for all women. It is a lesson for all," he told reporters here on Saturday while responding to queries on the I-T raids.

Divakaran's premises were also raided by I-T officials last week as part of multi-city searches of those associated with Sasikala.

On the recovery of pen drives and a laptop during an I-T search at Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence on Friday, he said, "I am away from the garden for a long time."

However, no such electronic gadgets were recovered from his house during the raids last week, he claimed.

Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, nephew of Divakaran, however, sought to downplay the latter's remarks on Sasikala.

"He must have made those comments (on Jayalalithaa not ensuring Sasikala's protection) out of anguish," he told reporters at Thanjavur.

I-T sleuths had conducted searches in the office block of the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa, 'Veda Nilayam', days after raids at more than 180 locations.

Following inputs, a search operation was launched in the office block and a room used by Sasikala, who is now serving a jail term in connection with the Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case.

Chennai: Justice A Arumughaswamy, appointed by the Tamil Nadu government to inquire into the circumstances leading to the hospitalisation of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, assumed charge on Friday.

The assuming of office by the retired judge of the Madras High Court would be followed by a notification calling for information on the agenda of the one-man inquiry commission.

To a question, Arumughaswamy said the probe would be transparent.

The state government had on September 25 announced setting up of the inquiry commission headed by the retired high court judge.

Justice Arumughaswamy would hold the inquiry into the circumstances leading to the hospitalisation and death of Jayalalithaa on December 5 last year after 75 days of treatment at the Apollo Hospitals here.

The commission shall submit its report in three months, as per the Government Order.

According to the GO issued last month, the Commission's terms of reference would be "to inquire into the circumstances and situation leading to the hospitalisation" of Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016 and "subsequent treatment provided till her unfortunate demise" on December 5 the same year.

The probe was a key demand of the then rebel AIADMK faction led by O Panneerselvam as a pre-condition for the merger of his camp with that of Chief Minister K Palanisamy.
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The two factions had merged on August 21 with Panneerselvam becoming the deputy chief minister. 

After the TN CM Edappadi K Palaniswami issued a statement saying that the former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s home in Poes garden will be made a memorial, Jayalalithaa’s niece J Deepa reportedly filed a case in the Madras High Court against EPS's statement. The Court has reportedly issued a notice to TN Government to come to a conclusion on this issue before October 23.

​Pudukottai: Tamil Nadu minister Vellamandi Natarajan on Sunday said he did not see late chief minister Jayalalithaa during her hospitalisation last year and offered to depose before the one-man inquiry commission set up to probe her demise.

"I did not see Amma (Jayalalithaa) when she was in the Apollo Hospital. We could go only up to the second storey of the hospital. After that no one was allowed (into her room)," he told reporters in Pudukottai.
Natarajan, the Tourism Minister, said he was ready to record this before the inquiry commission.
"I will tell this truth to the commission, if they summon me and ask me. In fact all the ministers are ready to depose before the commission," he added.

The state government had last month named retired Madras High Court judge justice A Arumugasamy as the one-man commission of inquiry to probe the circumstances leading to the hospitalisation of Jaylalalithaa on September 22, 2016 and treatment provided till her demise on December 5 last.
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Some AIADMK leaders, including ministers, had recently come up with contradicting claims over access to Jayalalithaa during her hospitalisation.

While senior Minister Dindigul Srinivasan was the first to say that they did not see Jayalalithaa, some of his ministeral colleagues backed his stand while a few others had said they had met the then party supremo in hospital.