The New Indian Express ·
Politics
TN CM Vijay-led TVK alliance formally named 'Secular Social Justice Victory Front'
The post-poll allies of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) formally cemented their alliance at a meeting held in Chennai on Wednesday and named the front led by the ruling party as the ‘Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance’.
MDMK general secretary Vaiko, TNCC president Manickam Tagore, VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan, IUML leader Kader Mohideen and TVK general secretary and senior minister Aadhav Arjuna jointly addressed the media at the TVK office in Panaiyur after the meeting. Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has been chosen as the leader of the bloc, Tagore told reporters.
The leaders declared that their coming together was not merely for an election but it is based on a broader ideological commitment to secularism and social justice.“This (new bloc) is a part of the INDIA alliance,” Manickam Tagore said.
He added that it was his view that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would be the prime ministerial candidate of the INDIA alliance and claimed that Vijay would support the INDIA alliance’s PM candidate in the 2029 polls. He also said the TVK alliance’s candidates for the Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypolls would be announced on Thursday.
Vaiko said the parties have so far been functioning as supporting parties but had now evolved into alliance partners. Declaring that the alliance was not formed merely for a bypoll or single election, Vaiko said it had been created with a long-term political vision. “Hindutva fascist forces have had no place in Tamil Nadu so far, and there will be no place for them in the future either.
We have joined hands to ensure this,” he said. He added that the alliance partners would campaign for candidates announced by the TVK for the upcoming October 6 bypolls.VCK leader Thirumavalavan stressed that the arrangement should not be viewed as a conventional electoral alliance. “The alliance has been formed to protect constitutional principles,” he said.
In the meeting, according to sources, the alliance party leaders also discussed the upcoming bypolls for the Madurantakam (SC) and Dharapuram (SC) seats.
“It was decided that TVK would field its candidates in both the constituencies,” a TVK source told TNIE. Former AIADMK MLAs of Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies, Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama — who resigned their MLA posts and joined TVK — are likely to be fielded on behalf of the new bloc.