Asserting that any conspiracy to replicate Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu by the Election Commission (EC) will be defeated, Chief Minister and ruling DMK president MK Stalin on Saturday said the state had the necessary wherewithal to accomplish that.
“Whatever might be the plan of the EC, the SIR will not succeed even in Bihar. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned any attempt to impose such an exercise it will be thwarted and we have the wherewithal to accomplish that,” the Chief Minister told the media at the Chennai airport before leaving for his European tour of Germany and the United Kingdom.
Sharing what he saw and observed in Bihar where he teamed up with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav and CPI-ML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya in the ongoing Vote Adhikar Yatra, he said the EC had awakened the people and made them aware of their vote. In his view, it has become counterproductive. Stalin, accompanied by his sister and DMK Deputy General Secretary Kanimozhi, MP, had joined the yatra, which is getting a massive response.
Responding to a question on the recent opinion poll, predicting a landslide for the BJP if Lok Sabha elections are held now, Stalin was dismissive of that and said the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), comprising the Congress, Left Parties, VCK, MDMK and Muslim Parties and the Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi, will register a resounding victory as in the past. The Chief Minister declined to comment on actor-turned neta Vijay’s claim that the 2026 assembly election is a direct contest between his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and the DMK. “No comment,” was his response.
Vijay, attempting to position himself as the alternative and as the ideological heir of Dravidian icons, Anna and Periyar, has been targeting the DMK as the TVK’s primary political enemy and the BJP as the ideological enemy.
On reports of new parties entering the DMK-led front, Stalin said, “Whether new parties are coming or not, new voters are coming to the DMK. This is the truth.” There are reports of the DMDK of late actor Vijayakanth, led by his wife Premalatha, as well as a faction of the PMK joining the DMK-led front. The DMDK teaming up with the DMK combine gained credence after Premalatha called on Stalin on his return from the Hospital a fortnight ago.
The Chief Minister was dismissive of the opposition criticism of his foreign jaunts to scout for investment. All the MoUs entered into will bear fruit with some having set their shops already while others are in the final stages of completion, he said adding since he took over office in 2021, the state had signed 922 MoUs, attracting over Rs 10 lakh crore ensuring employment opportunities for 32.81 lakh people. “Securing foreign investment by making Tamil Nadu a prime destination for investments is to achieve the target of making the state One Trillion Dollar economy by 2030,” he said.