Should we have an alliance, TVK asks district secretaries

CHENNAI: A day after TVK leaders K A Sengottaiyan and Aadhav Arjuna said the party would contest the Tamil Nadu assembly election independently in all the 234 seats, party general secretary N Anand on Friday began consultations with district secretaries on whether TVK should enter into an alliance.

Later in the evening, however, several district secretaries got calls from TVK leader Aadhav Arjuna and a consultant saying the party was not considering any alliance now. At the virtual meeting convened in a hurry on Friday — messages were sent out around 10.30am for the interaction at 2pm — Anand sought the views of the functionaries but mentioned no specific party or alliance.




The discussion came two days ahead of TVK president Vijay’s visit to Delhi to appear before CBI. The agency investigating the Karur stampeded has, unusually, scheduled the session on Sunday. Incidentally, the BJP leadership has convened a meeting of the party’s leaders in poll-bound states, in Delhi on the same day.

Many district secretaries said an alliance would be needed to defeat DMK, while some others argued the party should contest alone. “We told the leadership that we will abide by whatever decision president Vijay takes. However, we want him as the CM face of the alliance,” said a district secretary from western TN.

Those opposed to the idea of an alliance said this election is an opportunity for the party to prove its strength, and once that is done, parties would approach TVK for alliances. Anand told the participants that he would convey their views to Vijay who would take the final call.

Anand also told them that the party was not founded on the expectation that other parties would join hands. “Even if we contest on our own, district secretaries should work towards winning all 234 constituencies, he told us,” said another district secretary.

District secretaries were instructed to quickly finalize candidates for constituencies in their charge and inform the leadership. Vijay has interviewed 60 shortlisted candidates. Sources said Anand met Vijay later in the afternoon and briefed him on the discussion.