Chennai : Stakes in the RK Nagar assembly constituency bye poll got bigger on Wednesday with VK Sasikala’s nephew and AIADMK deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran announcing his candidature and in the process taking on Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar and any candidate AIADMK OPS faction might field from the prestigious constituency that J Jayalalithaa represented in the assembly.

On a day when former chief minister O Panneerselvam was in Delhi meeting election commission demanding the official two leaves symbol, claiming his party to be the real AIADMK, Dinakaran declared that OPS will be a big zero after the votes in the April 12 bye poll were counted.

If three parties – AIADMK Sasikala, AIADMK OPS and MGR Amma Deepa Peravai of Deepa Jayakumar – are fighting for Amma’s legacy it is just possible that they leave the field wide open for the DMK, which has fielded a new face – N Maruthu Ganesh. DMK working president MK Stalin is smelling a great chance to embarrass the ruling party and add to the pressure on the Palaniswami government. Ganesh is a local leader of the party in RK Nagar.

The bye poll to RK Nagar constituency has been necessitated due to the death of chief minister Jayalalithaa on December 5 last year.

Dinakaran sounded confident on Wednesday when he announced his candidature and asserted that he would win by a victory margin of over 50,000 votes. This is something that the OPS faction laughs at. He considers neither OPS nor Deepa Jayakumar his opponent, as he said that his fight was against the DMK.

“I will follow in the footsteps of Amma and implement all her schemes. What all she promised to do for RK Nagar, I will fulfil,” Dinakaran told media persons after making his announcement.

In response to a question, Dinakaran denied that he would make a play for the chief minister’s post if he won from RK Nagar. Dinakaran was expelled from AIADMK by Jayalalithaa but was later taken back by Sasikala. She elevated him to the post of deputy general secretary of the party, shortly before surrendering to the Bengaluru court for serving out jail sentence in the corruption case.

Dinakaran too was found guilty of money laundering and also faces FERA cases against him. In fact, governor was against his inclusion in the council of ministers because of these cases.

Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa sought blessings from her aunt, sat in prayer at Jayalalithaa memorial on Monday, and reiterated her intention to fight from RK Nagar. Now, if she and indeed OPS group field candidates, they would only be helping Dinakaran by splitting the vote. If not him, then definitely help the DMK win. But OPS is yet to announce whether his faction would field a candidate or support Deepa.

For sure, the stakes in the RK Nagar constituency have become very high for the ruling AIADMK faction as a loss here will be severe loss of face as also an indication of the shape of things to come in the forthcoming local body polls.