CHENNAI: In a development that could alter the dynamics of the upcoming Assembly polls, the debutant TVK, which is yet to find an ally despite party president Vijay offering a share in power, convened an urgent online meeting of its district secretaries to seek their opinion on “joining an alliance” to “defeat the evil force DMK” in the polls.
Sources said party general secretary N Anand, who convened and chaired the meeting, did not mention which alliance the party could join. However, considering the prevailing situation in the state, they said that the alliance implied was the AIADMK-BJP bloc of which the latter has been identified by the TVK as its “ideological enemy”.
Most of the district secretaries to whom TNIE spoke to said that though they were not asked which alliance to join, majority of the attendees strongly voiced support for joining an alliance to defeat the DMK.
Sources said that of the 138 district secretaries, over 120 attended the meeting, while some missed since it was a last-minute call. The meeting that began around 12.30 pm concluded in less than 30 minutes. Except Anand, none of the other top functionaries, like KA Sengottaiyan, KG Arunraj, and Aadhav Arjuna, were present.
“Since it was a zoom call, everybody was able to speak and the majority of the district secretaries asked the general secretary (Anand) to join an alliance to defeat the evil force DMK,” a district secretary from the western region told TNIE.
We will stand with Vijay on alliance decision: Dist secys
“Our general secretary Anand did not ask our opinion on which party to align with. But, we all have conveyed that it is impossible to defeat the evil force unless we join an alliance,” another district secretary from the Delta region told TNIE.
According to the district secretary from the western region, Anand had asked their district secretaries that some party functionaries may not get a seat to contest in the assembly election, if they join an alliance.
“We said that we would stand by our party leader Vijay and general secretary Anand. We would accept whatever decision they take for the welfare of the party and to remove the evil force from power,” the district secretary told TNIE.
“This is not the way our meetings usually happen. We always get a day’s notice at least. I missed seeing the text and had to rush into the meeting a little late,” the district secretary from Delta region told TNIE.
While concluding the meeting, Anand told the district secretaries that he would convey the message to the TVK president, who would take the final call regarding the alliance. Vijay is expected to be in Delhi on Sunday to appear before the special investigation team of the CBI in relation to the Karur stampede case.
When asked about it, AIADMK former minister D Jayakumar told reporters in Chennai that the party would welcome anybody who accepts AIADMK leadership and joins the alliance. “Our aim is to defeat the evil force DMK. So, we will accept whoever is willing to accept our leadership and join us to defeat DMK,” Jayakumar said.