Actor-turned neta Vijay’s soft corner for key DMK ally, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), and his remark that VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, MP, had come under pressure to stay away from sharing stage with him at the recent event to release a book on Ambedkar, had pushed the DMK and the VCK to reiterate that the alliance is intact.

 “I could understand how much intense pressure VCK president Thirumavalavan would have faced from the allies not to participate in the event that too releasing a book on Ambedkar. But, though he has given a miss, his mind is fully here with us,” Vijay had said releasing the book on Friday.

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He further predicted that in the 2026 assembly poll, the DMK’s carefully constructed alliance calculations would come to naught with the people making them into a minus. Painting the DMK as anti-Dalit, the actor also debunked the DMK leadership’s claim of winning 200 seats (out of 234) as nothing but height of arrogance.

Adding fuel to this was the editor of the book, Adhav Arjuna, Deputy General Secretary of the VCK, who said “the 2026 assembly election would put an end to the prevailing ‘monarchy by birth’ and usher in leadership based on ideology with power sharing.” Even earlier, he had raised this issue ahead of Udhayanidhi Stalin’s elevation as Deputy Chief Minister.

Ever since Vijay declared that his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party would share power with allies, the spotlight had turned to the VCK as share in power has been one of its core principles. Now, the book release event organised by his party colleague had put Thirumavalan in a fix and the DMK rattled. Many DMK leaders have reiterated that the alliance is very strong and maintained that the combine is held by ideological affinity not by power.

Responding to Vijay, Thirumavalavan said “I disagree with him. Vijay would have desired my presence at the event and his remarks clearly betray that. The decision to skip the function was taken with caution as it would be used by ideological adversaries to create a cleavage in the DMK alliance. Our alliance with the DMK is on a strong footing. The VCK played a pivotal role in the formation of the alliance.” On Adhav Arjuna, he said “He being a Deputy General Secretary, his views would be considered as that of the VCK’s. Many functionaries have expressed concern and we will discuss in the party forum,” he maintained.

Senior DMK leader and Law Minister S Regupathy, coming to the defence of Thirumavalavan, said “He is a towering leader with self-respect and he is unwavering in his commitment to the alliance, which is knit together by ideological bonding. The VCK is very much in the DMK front. DMK is not running a monarchy since the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister are elected by the people.”

DMK Organising Secretary RS Bharathi asserted “No power on earth can split the DMK-VCK alliance. There need not be any doubt about the strong bonding and it can’t be broken. Only Vijay had become a minus in filmdom and that is the reason why he had turned to politics.”