CHENNAI: Speculation is rife in Tamil Nadu politics after Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) founder Thol Thirumavalavan met Chief Minister MK Stalin at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat on Monday.
The meeting assumes significance as the VCK leader and MP from Chidambaram Lok Sabha seat had courted controversy by saying that coalition partners must be accommodated in the Tamil Nadu Cabinet which would lead to all partners being beneficiaries of power.
It may be noted that in Tamil Nadu, the Dravidian parties DMK and AIADMK have been in power since 1969 alternatively.
While both these Dravidian majors have had coalition partners, they have not accommodated any of them in the Cabinet.
Hence, Thol Thirumavalavan’s statement assumes significance in view of the political history of Tamil Nadu.
The VCK is a coalition partner in the INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu and has four legislators, but none of them have been included in the Cabinet.
Both the DMK and AIADMK have rejected the proposal mooted by the VCK leader to share power.
Interestingly, the VCK leader was also in the news for inviting the principal Opposition party of Tamil Nadu, AIADMK for a liquor abolition meet the party is conducting on Gandhi Jayanti.
Significantly, CM Stalin was in the US when Thol Thirumavalavan had extended his party’s invitation for the anti-liquor meet on October 2 and also the open call for a coalition government in Tamil Nadu.
In the murky politics of the state where opposing political leaders don’t see eye to eye, the VCK’s invitation to the AIADMK has raised many eyebrows.
Speculation is rife that the VCK, the most powerful Dalit political outfit of Tamil Nadu is in the process of switching sides.
It is in this context that Thol Thirumavalavan’s meeting with DMK President Stalin gains importance.
The VCK has two MPs in Thol Thirumavalavan and D Ravikumar from Villupuram constituency and the party has a 2.5 per cent vote share.
The party had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on its ‘Pot’ symbol.
The party also has four MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in alliance with the DMK.
It may be recalled that AIADMK leaders D Jayakumar and Sellur Raju had vehemently opposed the VCK leader’s suggestion for a coalition government.
Sellur Raju had even said that in Tamil Nadu it will either be a DMK or an AIADMK government and publicly rejected any coalition government in the state.
MK Mukundaraj, a political analyst based out of Tiruchi told IANS, “The VCK is trying to move ahead of the DMK coalition. The open statement for a coalition government and invitation to the principal Opposition party, AIADMK to attend the anti-liquor campaign are indeed shrewd political moves as he tests the political waters.”