Truce in Dhinakaran faction; Senthil Balaji joins DMK

Former Tamil Nadu transport minister and a senior member of the T.T.V.Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) V. Senthil Balaji joined the DMK on Friday, the DMK said in a statement.

For Balaji, it was a homecoming as he had joined the AIADMK after leaving the DMK many years ago.

Balaji and several others joined the DMK in the presence of party president M.K.Stalin at the party headquarters here.

Balaji told reporters that the DMK will come to power, defeating the AIADMK.

He said he joined the DMK as Stalin had good leadership qualities. However, he did not give the reasons for quitting the AMMK.

Elected from the Karur constituency, Balaji was one of the 18 legislators belonging to the Dhinakaran camp who were disqualified by Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P.Dhanapal in 2017.

Reacting to the development, an unperturbed Dhinakaran told reporters that it was sad that Balaji had joined the DMK, which had filed a case against the late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.

He also said that DMK needed a person from AMMK to strengthen the party (DMK) in Karur.