Among the points being debated is the electoral viability of TVK joining hands with the AIADMK-BJP combine “to replicate in Tamil Nadu the Pawan Kalyan-led Janasena-TDP government model” of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
Sections within the party make a strong pitch to go solo, continue to invoke the legacy of MGR and emerge as a winner like him.
BJP state chief Nainar Nagenthran, when asked whether talks for an alliance with the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam were ongoing, declined to provide a direct reply, furthering guesswork on social media. Nainar neither denied nor agreed.
“You are worried about the alliance, and I am concerned about the people’s issues, especially the failure of law and order in the state and lack of safety for women,” Nagenthran told reporters here.
Dismissing the reports of negotiations for an alliance with NDA as “rumours,” TVK’s Joint General Secretary C T R Nirmal Kumar said that the virtual meeting with the party’s district secretaries held on March 13 was to assess the strengths and alliance prospects.
“There’s no scope for an alliance with the NDA. We have already made it clear that the BJP is our ideological enemy,” Nirmal Kumar told PTI and sought to know if the “rumours” were true, will the NDA constituents –including the AIADMK and BJP– accept Vijay as the chief ministerial candidate.He dismissed reports on the likelihood of an electoral pact as media speculation.
Meanwhile, speculation on social media is refusing to die down, and several “alliance hypothesis” revolves around TVK and its cadres, who are active participants in the online communities.
Speculations are rife in political circles that the Saffron party is allegedly “arm-twisting” Vijay to join the NDA by misusing the ‘Jana Nayagan’ film certification issue and the CBI probe into the Karur stampede.
Several party enthusiasts said the TVK continues to ‘dominate the political discourse’. When the claims and counter-claims over the strong possibility of Congress-TVK alliance reached peak, “Vijay’s wife Sankgeetha’s divorce petition in court,” emerged and rivals gave traction to such a personal matter, they said.
Now, TVK-NDA alliance speculations are coinciding with Vijay’s Delhi visit for an appearance before the CBI on March 15, they added.
Though TVK, projecting Vijay as the CM face, had all along been maintaining that it would share power if it wins, no political outfit of proven electoral standing has joined it.
When asked about the allegation of arm-twisting to bring TVK into the NDA fold, the BJP leader K Annamalai dismissed the claim. Speaking to reporters in Coimbatore, he said it was TVK that sought a CBI probe into the Karur tragedy, and the BJP supported it.
“They are confident that CBI led probe is independent and fair. So, how can we accept this allegation.”
As regards the Jananayagan issue, Annamalai wondered if Vijay had ever levelled an allegation against the BJP. The actor-turned politician has never accused the BJP of instigating trouble for the film, he said.
Hence, it is an issue between the censor authority and film producers, and the matter has also reached the court. He said: “It was only the DMK that blamed us on this issue; shedding crocodile tears for TVK. I can only respond to fair criticism.”
On prospects of TVK joining the NDA and the actor-led party’s internal discussions, he said, “There is no new information available” to him.
In a statement, Nirmal Kumar appealed to party members not to believe the “rumours” and go by the official announcement of the TVK.
“Various news stories are being spread daily through the media and social media concerning the TVK, based on speculation, aiming to divert everyone’s attention from people’s problems,” Nirmal Kumar said in the statement.
The party members should follow only the official announcements made on behalf of the TVK, he added.
At the virtual meeting, the district secretaries conveyed to TVK General Secretary N Anand that the party’s victory prospects would be greater if it contested the election with an alliance, a source in the party said.
