The unthinkable happened in Tamil Nadu and its ruling party, the AIADMK. Just when everyone assumed that the stranglehold of the Sasikala family on the party and the government was unshakable, the state’s most feared clan suddenly got ejected from the political equation. On the Tamil New Year’s Day, ministers and most of the 122 MLAs supporting the Edappadi K. Palaniswami government revolted against T.T.V. Dinakaran’s influence over the party. Dinakaran, Sasikala’s nephew, was made deputy general secretary of the AIADMK before the aunt went to a Bangalore jail.