CHENNAI: The DMK’s all party meeting created much hype, thanks to the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) playing a guessing game till the eleventh hour on attending the event but eventually turning its back.
Though initially inclined to participate and revive ties with main opposition party, VCK president Thol Thirumavalan stretched the suspense till the all-party meet commenced on Tuesday morning.
The previous day witnessed hectic political activity in the People’s Welfare Alliance (PWA) camp. Refusing to toe PWA line made clear by its convener Vaiko, the VCK leader held a conclave of his party lieutenants after which he appealed to the PWA constituents to review the decision of boycotting the DMK meet.
Speculations were rife that VCK would walk out of the alliance to team up with the DMK as the party has been in a desperate mood. Thirumavalavan met the leaders of CPI, CPM and finally had a midnight huddle with Vaiko leaving the media guessing before making his stand clear a little while before the all party meeting commenced.
A three-member delegation of his party led by headquarters secretary Ilam Cheguvera handed a letter written by Thirumavalavan to MK Stalin while the meeting was going on. It expressed the situation where the party could not make itself present at the meeting.
Later, Stalin responded by saying “I can understand what lies in your mind and the reality.”
Thirumavalavan appeared to be caught between the devil and the deep sea. He was in a dilemma on whether to attend the DMK’s all party meet because a section in his party had been prevailing upon him to grab the opportunity offered by DMK, sources said.
They added that an influential leader of DMK had been in touch with him but fell short of giving strong assurance over future ties.With the next Lok Sabha polls far away, apprehensions about the future slowly dissipated and Thirumavalavan was able to resist the temptation to step into Anna Arivalayam. He was also well aware of GK Vasan’s bitter experience with Stalin, the sources added.
However, VCK general secretary D Ravikumar said, “We assessed all the options before us. We do not want to derail the PWA. So we decided to avoid attending the all party meeting.”