Responding to questions after paying floral tributes at the memorial of Rettamalai Srinivasan in Guindy, Thirumavalavan said the VCK had initially extended only outside support to the TVK-led government after Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay sought the party's backing, as the alliance lacked the numbers to form the government. He said the Congress and the Left parties had also extended outside support, while the VCK joined the ministry only 10 days later.

"When I was asked by the media whether we were still part of the DMK alliance, I said we continued to feel that we were. Even after joining the ministry, there was no official event or announcement stating that we had become part of a TVK-led political alliance," he said, hinting that he was still with the DMK alliance, in the backdrop of State minister N Anand cosying up with arch-rival PMK's president Anbumani Ramadoss.

Referring to the July 1 meeting convened by Chief Minister Vijay with parties supporting the government, Thirumavalavan said no final decision had been taken on constituting a formal alliance. "That only means a TVK-led alliance has not yet been constituted," he said.

Responding to Thirumavalavan's remarks, Tagore said there was no need for confusion or "playing with words". "Politics is not a television game show," he said.

Tagore said that once parties supported a government on the floor of the Assembly and some of them joined the Cabinet, they had moved beyond the stage of merely extending outside support. He said the Congress, the Indian Union Muslim League and the VCK were part of the government, while the Left parties continued to extend outside support in keeping with their political position, which the Congress respected.