CHENNAI: TVK president and actor Vijay will meet residents of Kancheepuram on Sunday as part of the next phase of his ‘Meet the People’ campaign. The interaction, scheduled at a private college on the outskirts of Chennai, is expected to draw around 1,500 participants, including party functionaries, from over 35 villages. Participants will present their grievances directly to Vijay, sources said.
Vijay will also address the TVK volunteers’ wing, whose members are undergoing crowd-management training from retired police personnel. About 100 volunteers are being trained each day at a private college in Chennai, shortlisted through fitness and eligibility norms similar to police recruitment. District-level camps will follow after the first phase is completed, party sources said.
Sources added that district teams which previously coordinated Vijay’s events will brief other units on best practices for large gatherings. Once police permission is secured for the Salem event planned for the first week of December, TVK teams from other districts — who earlier organised rallies in their regions — will inspect the proposed venue to plan crowd movement and assess safety needs.
Party sources said Vijay was disappointed after Salem district police denied permission to hold the campaign on December 4, a date he considers personally meaningful as it marks the release of his 1992 debut film Naalaiya Theerpu. TVK is now exploring alternate dates. Meanwhile, the Salem police department has informed TVK that permission for any future public meeting or campaign event featuring Vijay must be sought at least four weeks in advance.
The police made it clear that the advance notice would help them plan out crowd management, traffic regulation, and security measures in advance, in accordance with the post-Karur safety protocols.
(With inputs from Sneha Sivashanmugam @ Salem)