Chennai, Jan. 22 -- The Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), An All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) splinter group led by TTV Dhinakaran on Wednesday returned to the fold of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as the Bharatiya Janata Party scrambled to finalise partnerships ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's big rally in Tamil Nadu on January 23. HT had previously reported on January 18 that AMMK would rejoin the NDA. The alliance, formalised in the presence of Piyush Goyal, the Union commerce minister who is also the BJP's person in charge of the state election scheduled for early summer, marks a significant win for the BJP which has been trying to field its strongest-ever alliance in the state to take on the incumbent Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led alliance. On Wednesday, Dhinakaran and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) who is leading the NDA in Tamil Nadu said they have buried their differences and that the union is aimed at defeating the ruling DMK. The return of Dhinakaran ensures that the votes of the Mukulathors, dominant in southern and central Tamil Nadu, are consolidated and not split between AMMK and AIADMK as it was in 2021. Dhinakaran and O Panneerselvam (OPS), both expelled from the AIADMK were in the NDA's fold after the AIADMK broke away from the BJP for 19 months. But, when the AIADMK and BJP joined hands again last April after a bitter separation, first OPS and then Dhinakaran quit the NDA saying they were being sidelined. Both Dhinakaran and OPS, who now heads the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhaga Thondargal Urimai Meetpu Kuzhu, have flirted with actor Vijay's fledgling Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK). Until recently, EPS was dead set against the return of Dhinakaran, VK Sasikala (Dhinakaran's aunt and the late J Jayalaithaa's confidant) and OPS, all of whom belong to the Mukkalathor community. EPS himself hails from the Gounder community dominant in western Tamil Nadu. EPS in a post on X "warmly welcomed" Dhinakaran into the alliance though AIADMK leaders were absent during Goyal's meeting with him....