It’s official: Thirumavalavan will share stage with TVK chief actor Vijay

CHENNAI: Ending the lost-standing suspense over a seemingly innocuous event which, however, is perceived to have a lot of political significance, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan confirmed that he would share stage with actor-politician Vijay at an event to release a book on BR Ambedkar on December 6, his death anniversary, in Chennai.

However, Thirumavalavan, who won the last Lok Sabha election as a DMK and INDIA bloc ally, reiterated that his presence at the event has no political implications and stressed that he would remain in the present alliance itself.

The event assumed significance after Vijay, who launched Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) earlier this year, is also slated to attend it. During the party’s first State conference late last month, Vijay dangled power-sharing as a lure to attract allies – a demand that VCK has been raising in the recent past.

The two leaders sharing the stage in this backdrop, hence, attracted a lot of attention, despite vehement and repeated denials by Thirumavalavan about any plans to switch alliance.

On Friday, the VCK leader said as per the original schedule of the event, Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin was supposed to release the book and he was to receive it. “At that time, it was only said that Vijay would attend the event. The TVK conference (where the power-sharing offer was extended) was not scheduled at that time,” Thirumavalavan said, as per a Maalaimalar report.

“The imputation of political motive to a book release event is shocking,” added the Dalit leader.

According to him, there was no reason for his party to shift alliance from the DMK-led coalition in Tamil Nadu and the INDIA bloc at the national level. “Attending a book release does not mean we would automatically change our political alignment," he added.