CHENNAI: In a major political development that could pave the way for a TVK-led government in Tamil Nadu, the two Left parties and the VCK on Friday decided to lend external support to Vijay, helping his two-year-old party muster the support of 118 MLAs, which is required to prove a majority in the Assembly.
While the state leadership of the CPI and CPM formally announced unconditional outside support to TVK, sources in the VCK said they will follow suit, though an official announcement is yet to be made. VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan will make the official announcement on Saturday morning.
While the Left parties said they will lend external support to the TVK to form the government, stopping short of becoming part of it, they will continue their journey with the DMK on issues concerning secularism, state rights and welfare policies.
Sources in the VCK said, as things stand on Friday, the party is unlikely to seek a share in power. There were internal voices favouring cabinet berths, and a deputy CM post for Thirumavalavan. However, senior leaders inside the party are learnt to have rejected the proposal.
VCK is also exploring a possibility of setting up a condition to extend support to TVK. These could range from continuing the welfare schemes introduced by the DMK government in the last five years and not to initiate any “revenge actions” against politicians. After the high-level committee, Thirumavalavan met DMK president MK Stalin to discuss the possibility of resigning his MP post and then contesting a by-election.
CPI state secretary M Veerapandian said the decision to ally with TVK was taken in view of the people’s mandate and to avoid the possibility of President’s Rule and the subsequent entry of the BJP “through the back door”. “The people have made a democratic proposal, and we have endorsed it,” he said.
Speaking on the issue, P Shanmugam, state secretary of the CPM, clarified that the support extended to TVK was not a political alliance. “This support is only for the formation of the government. We will not join the cabinet,” he said. When asked about reports of AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami exploring the possibility of forming a government with DMK support, Shanmugam replied,
“We have pledged support to TVK. How can we support them?” The Left leaders also said they believed TVK is suitable for forming a secular government since the party openly declared the BJP as its ideological opponent.
Sources said TVK deputy general secretary CTR Nirmalkumar held talks with Left parties and the IUML, while general secretary Aadhav Arjuna was in touch with Thirumavalavan to shore up the numbers. The DMK is learnt to have suggested the VCK to support the AIADMK in forming the government.
However, sources close to Thirumavalavan said he was sceptical of the idea because of its alliance with the BJP and weighed the pros and cons before deciding to support TVK. Similarly, the DMK had also broached the idea to both Left parties, suggesting them to support AIADMK in forming a government.
CPM general secretary MA Baby, speaking to a television channel, said the DMK had told them that they were in favour of supporting an AIADMK government from the outside and expected the Left to follow suit.
“It was decided that the leaders would meet DMK chief MK Stalin and say that it was not their intention to oppose the DMK but that we are not going to accept their political line to support the AIADMK, which was with the BJP,” Baby said.
A senior leader that TNIE spoke to confirmed this, stating that Stalin, in one of their meetings, also suggested that they stand by the DMK in whatever decisions they might take. “We asked Stalin what the decision was, and he said they were considering extending external support to the AIADMK. We told him it was not in alignment with our ideology since the AIADMK is with the BJP,” he said.