Chennai: Ties between the VCK and DMK that dithered at the precipice after VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan openly attacked the State government for not bringing in total prohibition in the State, gave a clarion call to the AIADMK to attend its liquor and narcotic eradication conference and even indirectly made a demand for share in power were pulled back from the brink on Monday when a team of VCK leaders called on Chief Minister M K Stalin.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Thirumavalavan said that two representatives of the DMK, organization secretary R S Barathi and TKS Elangovan, MP, would attend the conference to eradicate liquor and narcotics that the women’s wing of the VCK was organising on Gandhi Jayanthi Day, October 2, at Kallakurichi, where a hooch tragedy recently claimed over three scores of lives.
The delegation of top VCK leaders that met Stalin also said that all was well between the two parties dispelling the rumours that were floating around for more than a week on the VCK planning to walk out of the DMK-led alliance as Thirumavalavan, in the pretext of a vigorous campaign against alcohol and drugs while promoting the women's wing conference, launched a broadside against the DMK for not closing down liquor shops.
Though Thirumavalavan has been insisting that the conference was for a social cause and had nothing to do with electoral politics in the series of media interactions in various places, the aggressive manner in which he pitched for prohibition, blaming the DMK for not honouring its election promises and inviting the rival AIADMK to join his party in the campaign against alcohol and drugs triggered the speculation of a possible political realignment in the 2026 Assembly elections and the immediate snapping of ties.
Then when a clincher came in the form of a video, put out on social media, of Thirumavalavan speaking on the VCK’s right for a share in the power pie, many people thought that it was the last straw for the entire development was unfolding when Stalin was in the US on an official tour.
Stalin, on his return from the US, also told the media at the airport that there was no threat to the alliance as Thirumavalavan had made it clear that the conference was for a social cause and not for any political reason. Yet, the rumour mills were abuzz on the relationship between the two parties going sour as the VCK felt that it was being not given the due importance.
With the AIADMK, too, positively reacting to the invitation to attend the conference, it was believed that the VCK’s drift towards the AIADMK had begun as Thirumavalvan had made it clear that his party would not align with the PMK and BJP, which he described as a caste and communal parties respectively. But it is learnt that the call for share in power made covertly through a video on social media forced the AIADMK to rethink on possible ties with the VCK.
Whatever, the aggression that was visible till about two days back on seeking the eradication of liquor and narcotics even at the cost sacrificing the political alliance waned as the party leaders turned up at Stalin’s doors and handed over a memorandum that wanted the State Assembly to pass a resolution urging the Union Government to impose total prohibition all over the country and also financially compensate State that banned alcohol.
Giving statistics of alcohol and narcotic use in the State and the country, the VCK wanted it all to be abolished by the Union Government and recalled that former DMK Chief Ministers C N Annadurai and M Karunanidhi had wanted total prohibition. To put it another way, the VCK has put the ball now in the Union Government's court.
Asked about the reason for the meeting with the Chief Minister on Monday, Thirumavalavan said that they wanted to greet and congratulate Stalin on his successful official visit to the US that had drawn good investments to the State.