Cadre of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) expressed disappointment over the allotment of only one seat to their party by the DMK and demanded that one or two more seats be allotted.
After three days of talks at the DMK headquarters, VCK had been allocated only Chidambaram constituency in the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA).
Posters were pasted on buses condemning the DMK for allotting just one seat. VCK cadres of Veppur sat on a hunger strike pressing party leader Thirumavalavan to leave the alliance to protect their self-respect.
A top leader of the party, Ravi Kumar wrote on Facebook, “VCK should have showed its strength of vote bank by contesting alone in this election. Without contesting the election alone at least one time, no party can improve its bargaining powers.” Facebook was abuzz with VCK members lamenting about the seat allotment and DMK and DK members trying to compromise them. A VCK cadre said, “During the last Lok Sabha election, VCK was allotted two seats — Chidambaram and Villupuram. Our leader Thirumavalavan won in Chidambaram and our party’s candidate lost in Villupuram for a very thin margin of 2, 000 votes. So, we want the DMK alliance to allocate Villupuram constituency to us.”
Villupuram Protests
Meanwhile, in Villupuram VCK cadre in Tindivanam and Villupuram Town set fire to effigies of DMK leaders Karunanidhi and Stalin to express discontentment over the seat sharing. The VCK cadre demanded that their party leader Thol Thirumavalavan leaves the DMK alliance as the seat allotment had insulted 1.5 crore Dalits.
About 30 VCK members suddenly gathered in front of the Villupuram Collectorate on Friday and set fire to the effigies of DMK leader M Karunanidhi and M K Stalin. Speaking to Express, Pallipattu Kumar, VCK Koliyanur Union Secretary said, after the UPA alliance broke in December, VCK was the only powerful party that was capable of bringing victory to the DMK Alliance. The single seat allocated to the party was not an insult to the VCK party alone but also to the whole Dalit community, he added. “We can’t understand why our party leader Thol Thirumavalavan is tight-lipped over the seat allocation. We informed our party leader to withdraw from the DMK alliance,” he said.
In Tindivanam Town, about VCK men headed by party’s town organizer Dilipan set fire to an effigy of Karunanidhi.