Stung by actor Vijay’s frontal attack on the DMK as a “family looting Tamil Nadu with the mask of Dravidian model”, the ruling Dravidian major on Monday dismissed him as the “C team” of the BJP.
The DMK’s crucial ally, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), however, welcomed his commitment to power sharing in the government.
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While identifying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the ideological enemy, Vijay, addressing the first state-level conference of his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Sunday evening, said “Our political enemy is a selfish family that is looting Tamil Nadu which wears the mask of Dravidian model and invokes the names of ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy (rationalist Dravidian icon) and Anna (DMK founder CN Annadurai).”
Then, he dropped the bombshell of ‘power sharing’ with allies while forming the government in the 2026 assembly elections. With both the DMK and the AIADMK, steadfastly opposed to power sharing with allies, this has kindled a fresh debate since the state never had a coalition government in the past.
Reacting to the actor singling out the DMK as corrupt, party veteran and senior minister S Regupathy said, “Vijay’s party is neither the ‘A’ team or ‘B’ team but the ‘C’ team of the BJP. Strengthening the saffron party by weakening the AIADMK is his sole agenda. He has trained his guns on the DMK in order to poach the AIADMK votes. That’s why he has avoided any criticism of the AIADMK.”
Speaking to reporters in Pudukottai, he also dismissed his announcement on power sharing, saying “Let him first win the election and capture power.”
Another DMK leader, TKS Elangovan likened the TVK as yet another party challenging the DMK in its 75-year-long history. “The DMK has seen many parties which have fallen by the wayside. No corruption charge has ever been proved against the DMK. The charges are baseless,” he said and defended dynastic succession in the party, explaining “Udhayanidhi is proving himself through hard work.”
However, the VCK of Thol Thirumavalavan, MP, is not in sync with big brother DMK on Vijay’s political plunge and his assertion on power sharing in the government.
VCK deputy general secretary Aadhav Arjuna has welcomed it in an ‘X’ post, saying “Voices in support of our stand on share in power and in government has started coming. The future trajectory of Tamil Nadu politics is dependent upon it and Vijay had spoken about it realizing that it is a basic democratic right.”
Measured in his reaction, senior VCK leader and ideologue, D Ravikumar MP, said “Vijay had just stepped into politics and conducted his party’s first conference which is akin to a trailer of a movie. Let’s wait to see how he walks the talk. Elections are more than a year and a half away. Neither there is a need for celebration nor for discrediting him.”
Another Dalit leader K Krishnasamy of the ‘Puthiya Thamizhagam’ which is a constituent of the AIADMK front, while congratulating Vijay for the successful conduct of the conference, has welcomed Vijay on the issue of power sharing. “In the past 75 years, no political party has said it is open to sharing power with others,” he said.
The BJP too is dismissive of Vijay’s party though it is happy about the actor’s attack on the DMK and naming it as the TVK’s political enemy. But, it is unable to digest the actor naming the saffron parivaar as his ideological enemies and reiterating that it is a fascist.
“The hollowness of your politics has been exposed within a day. Your speech was nothing but a script, written by someone and delivered in filmy style,” said R Sreenivasan, state BJP general secretary.