Speaking at the wedding of a party functionary in Dharmapuri, he addressed the accusations that the VCK was to blame for the dissolution of the DMK alliance.
“The DMK, both underestimated the TVK and grossly failed to turn the political heat and the debate on the latter,” said Mr. Thirumavalavan, whose party now shares representation in Mr. Vijay’s Cabinet.
On the Karur stampede, he slammed the erstwhile DMK government’s failure to arraign Mr. Vijay in the case. “He (Vijay) delayed his arrival deliberately, and the delay led to a crowd surge that led to the stampede and deaths. In that case, should they have not filed a case against all those responsible? Why was Mr. Vijay dealt a liberal hand despite my insistence that he too should be booked?” he asked.
Mr. Vijay’s politics must have been “exposed” when he targeted the DMK. The DMK failed to target the political attacks on Mr. Vijay. “It was I who called Vijay ‘the child of the RSS’, and I did not trust him then. How did he gain my trust now? Because, he did not seek the support of the AIADMK, PMK, or the BJP (to form the government), instead he approached the Congress, the Left, and the VCK. It is 100% the DMK’s fault that the Congress, Left parties, and the VCK exited (the alliance). It is not the livestock’s fault that they walked out of the pen, but that of the owner for keeping all the doors of the pen open.”
The DMK’s ‘approach’ towards long-time alliance partners was what destroyed the goodwill and trust that was built over the years. The relations between the presiding party and its alliance partners was also rendered fragile by the inclusion of the DMDK, which cost seats for long-time allies, he contended. The VCK, Mr. Thirumavalavan said, supported the TVK alliance only after the Congress and the Left parties announced their support. “So, why is the VCK being singled out and assigned the blame of ‘betrayal’?” he asked., and pointed out: “In 2016, it was the DMK that wanted to go it alone in 200 seats.”
Back in 2024, the present TVK minister Aadhav Arjuna, who was with the VCK presented a proposal to project Mr. Thirumalavalan as the Chief Ministerial candidate for 2026. “But I did not want the ‘historic blame’ of breakup of the DMK alliance to be assigned to the VCK allowing the entry of the BJP-RSS into Tamil Nadu. I staunchly wanted to protect the alliance,” he said, adding that there were external pressures to purge the VCK from the DMK’s alliance in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Simultaneously, Mr. Thirumavalavan also proclaimed the VCK’s right to its own independent political trajectory by calling an end to explanations to his party cadre. “From now on, Tamil Nadu’s politics shall be a space where the VCK will be integral to power. There is no need for guilt-trips and counter-explanations on social media anymore,” he added.
