Stung by the Leader of the Opposition, Udhayanidhi Stalin’s persistent debunking of the Joseph Vijay administration as a ‘sofa model government’ which would not last long, Tamil Nadu Health Minister and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader KG Arun Raj on Wednesday slammed the DMK scion as a lotus eater, oblivious of the dynastic throne, he was hoping for, getting abolished by the electoral verdict.
Making a pun on the word ‘sanatan’, which Udhayanidhi claims to eradicate, the Minister said the DMK’s dynastic politics itself is ‘son-atan’. “Dynastic leader @Udhaystalin, slumping on the ‘son-atan’ throne of the DMK, reserved for one family with father succeeding grandfather and grandson succeeding father, the throne of dynasts has been abolished on May 4 itself,” he wrote on his ‘X’ handle.
He alleged that the DMK’s first family used Dravidian icons, social reformer ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy, and DMK founder CN Annadurai as a shield to perpetuate dynastic succession, keeping the party in their grip.
Udhayanidhi and DMK leaders continue to taunt Vijay’s TVK government as a ‘sofa model government’ ever since sofas were sent in advance to the party offices where Vijay had gone seeking support ahead of government formation, drawing a parallel with a scene in the blockbuster ‘Pushpa’. Udhayanidhi, who first used this term to describe the government, reiterated it earlier in the day at a family wedding of veteran DMK leader Arcot N Veerasamy, regarding encouraging defections.
“Under the sofa model government, we are witnessing people switching over to the party in power. Whether or not this government purchases anything, it is on a purchasing spree of leaders and legislators from other parties,” he said, referring to the exodus from the AIADMK to the TVK.
Responding, Arun Raj said, “How can you be aware of a democratic sofa which decentralises power and accommodates all? It is a sofa, in which not only four or even five, but all the council of ministers, under the leadership of the Chief Minister, are seated,” adding, “Santan thrones have neither the locus nor the legitimacy to talk about democratic sofas.”
The minister, hinting that dynastic politics too is sanatan, said, “The throne of dynasts has been abolished in Tamil Nadu on May 4 (when election results were announced). The government of Vijay heralds a new era with a democratic sofa that ensures power sharing with all.”