Hours ahead of meeting Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin, key ally and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) president Thol Thirumavalavan on Monday suspended party deputy general secretary Aadhav Arjuna for six months his for continued offensive against the big brother, adversely affecting the interests of the VCK.

The last straw proved to be Aadav’s assertion that the 2026 assembly election will put an end to monarchical type birth-based succession to power in Tamil Nadu. The occasion was the release of ‘Ambedkar: Leader for All’, a collection of essays edited by Aadhav. While actor-turned politician Vijay, who has announced the DMK as his political adversary, released the book, Thirumavalavan had stayed away from sharing the stage with the actor as it would send wrong political signals.

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Even earlier, he had raised the issue of power sharing in government and questioned the elevation of Udhayanidhi Stalin as the Deputy Chief Minister, asking “When someone acting in film till recently could become the Dy CM, why not my leader who has been in politics for 40 long years?” No wonder, these were unpalatable for the DMK.

“On the face of it, his activities might appear to be in the interests of the party and to empower it. But, they bring disrepute to the leadership and its credibility besides raising severe criticism in the public domain. Further, these have had a negative impact within the party seriously affecting discipline among the functionaries. Also, this could set a bad precedent,” Thirumavalavan said in a statement posted on his ‘X’ handle. Interestingly, the statement reveals that the decision to take action against Aadhav was taken a day after his outburst at the DMK at the book launch event.

The VCK has, though, denied that the suspension was taken due to pressure from the DMK. “There is no pressure from the DMK. It is a decision taken in the interest of the party as Aadhav’s continued offensive against the DMK is causing confusion among the party rank and file. He has crossed the red line,” explained party Deputy General Secretary Vanni Arasu. “He has been given a long rope. But, he was not heeding the advice of the leadership,” he added.

Son-in-law of lottery baron Santiago Martin, Aadhav had worked with poll strategist Prashath Kishore and later worked for the DMK’s victory in the 2021 assembly poll. He then joined the VCK and was appointed as deputy general secretary. However, his expectation for a Lok Sabha ticket proved futile. He runs a poll strategy firm, Voice of Commons, which brought out the book on Ambedkar. According to analysts, this might be the end of the road for Aadhav in the VCK and he might switch to Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.