The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) has extended support to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) at a crucial stage in Tamil Nadu’s post-election political developments, helping Vijay move closer to forming the government. However, even after announcing support, VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan made it clear that his party has not withdrawn its earlier criticism of TVK and continues to view the party as aligned with the “RSS-BJP”, as reported in OneIndia Tamil.
Tamil Nadu had witnessed political uncertainty for nearly six days after the Assembly election results, with TVK emerging as the single largest party but falling short of the numbers required to independently form the government.
In this situation, both the VCK and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) extended support to TVK, helping Vijay cross the majority mark required to stake claim to form the government.
Despite extending support, Thirumavalavan clarified that the decision should not be interpreted as a political endorsement of TVK or a withdrawal of earlier criticisms made against the party during the election campaign.
During the campaign, VCK had sharply criticized TVK and described the party as the “children of the RSS-BJP.” When asked whether supporting TVK after making such allegations was contradictory, Thirumavalavan defended the decision by describing the present political situation as exceptional.
“This is a confusing political situation. That is why we took this decision. There are no conditions in this. No bargaining took place. We did not make any effort to hold negotiations with him. Based on a decision already taken by the Left parties, we took our decision. I had already said earlier that we would take decisions together with the Left parties.”
He further argued that the overall vote share in the election reflected significant anti-TVK sentiment across Tamil Nadu, despite TVK emerging as the largest party.
“We contested the election under the leadership of the DMK. Our campaign was aimed at making Stalin the Chief Minister. The people who accepted our campaign gave more than 1.5 crore votes to our alliance. Those are also significant votes. Those votes were against TVK. Similarly, the one crore votes that went to the AIADMK were also against TVK. So more than 60 percent of the votes that went to the DMK and AIADMK alliances were anti-TVK votes. Even then, TVK has won 108 seats and is short by only 10 seats. That is why Vijay is struggling to form the government.”
Explaining the rationale behind VCK’s support, Thirumavalavan said the party’s decision was aimed at preventing the possibility of President’s Rule in Tamil Nadu.
“If Vijay is unable to form the government, President’s Rule will come. President’s Rule is almost equivalent to BJP rule. We are firm that such a situation should not come to Tamil Nadu. It is only on that basis that we have taken this decision. At the same time, we have not changed our criticism against them. There is no connection between our criticism and this support.”
He also emphasized that the support extended by VCK was limited strictly to enabling government formation and did not amount to a long-term alliance or political partnership with TVK.
“As of now, we have only extended support for forming the government. I did not say that we will run the government with them or travel together politically or maintain a political relationship with them. I repeat – our criticism of them and our assessment of them are separate matters. They are in a crisis situation and we are helping them. If we do not support them, the BJP will bring President’s Rule here. We are giving support only to prevent that.”
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