The induction of former ministers, ex-MLAs and party functionaries is being projected by TVK as a sign of its growing organisational reach across Tamil Nadu.
Ever since three rebel AIADMK legislators resigned and defected to Chief Minister Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the principal Opposition DMK and the AIADMK, along with others, have attacked the ruling party, accusing it of blatant horse trading to shore up its majority in the Assembly.
During the trust vote held on May 13 for the Vijay government, 25 of the 47 AIADMK legislators, led by former ministers C. Ve. Shanmugam, S.P. Velumani and C. Vijayabhaskar, voted in favour of the government, triggering a split in the party.
There is a popular phrase, “so close, yet so far.” In fact, the current situation of the AIADMK breakaway faction reminds one of another adage: “all dressed up and nowhere to go.”
The VCK and the League also took a dig at the DMK for allegedly attempting to form a government in alliance with the AIADMK, disregarding the mandate in favour of actor-politician Vijay, whose TVK emerged as the single largest party.
Interestingly, he also asked ticket aspirants from Puducherry and Kerala to get the applications since the Union Territory and the neighbouring state as well are also having assembly elections early next year.
A resolution was passed at the General Council meeting, attended by over 4,000 functionaries at Vanagaram on the outskirts of Chennai, which also formally endorsed the AIADMK’s return to the NDA in order to defeat the “common enemy”—the ruling DMK, which it alleged was steeped in “scientific corruption” beginning from Chief Minister Stalin’s family onward.
Old habits die hard, and Sengottaiyan kept a photograph of the late Jayalalithaa in his pocket even as he stepped inside the TVK headquarters at Suburban Panaiyur.
AIADMK stalwart K A Sengottaiyan, who resigned from his MLA post, on Thursday joined actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), marking a significant shift in Tamil Nadu politics, with substantial implications for the BJP, which is trying hard to make inroads in the key southern state.
Former Tamil Nadu Minister and nine-time MLA K. A. Sengottaiyan has formally joined actor-turned politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), bringing an end to his decades-long association with the AIADMK.
