CHENNAI: VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan on Friday questioned why the previous DMK government had not registered a case against Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay in connection with the Karur stampede that killed 41 people.
Speaking at a party functionary’s marriage in Dharmapuri, Thirumavalavan said his delayed arrival at the venue led to a massive crowd build-up that eventually resulted in the stampede and deaths. “All those responsible for the tragedy should have been named in the case, and I alleged that the DMK had underestimated the TVK at the time. I said a case should be filed against Vijay in the Karur incident. Why did the DMK hesitate and act liberally? All those who were responsible for the tragedy should have been included in the case. Shouldn’t you have then exposed the politics of Vijay?” he asked.
Thirumavalavan said the DMK should have responded when Vijay began targeting the party. “When Vijay targeted the DMK, it should have reacted. But I spoke against Vijay, criticising him for having RSS affiliations, and I did not have confidence in him,” he said.
However, he said his assessment of Vijay had changed after observing the latter’s political approach. “Today, I have gained confidence in the style of his politics. He has not sought support from the DMK, BJP or PMK, while reaching out to the VCK, Left parties and the Congress after elections. He decided to align with the Congress even after knowing that the BJP may cause disturbances,” he said.
Turning his criticism towards the DMK, the VCK leader blamed the party for failing to maintain cordial relations with its allies, which, he said, eventually forced the VCK and other parties to leave the alliance.
“The DMK-Congress relationship got strained during seat allocation before the polls. The MDMK was forced to contest on the DMK’s symbol, while MNM leader Kamal Haasan was not allotted seats. Suddenly, the DMDK was brought into the alliance and allocated a large number of seats. This did not go down well with the other alliance parties that had been with the DMK for a long time. The DMK is 100 per cent responsible for forcing its allies to leave the alliance,” he said.
Thirumavalavan also recalled that Adhav Arjuna, when he was with the VCK, had proposed an action plan to project him as the next Chief Minister and had urged him to leave the DMK-led alliance.
“However, I refused, as breaking the alliance would have paved the way for the BJP-AIADMK alliance to become stronger in Tamil Nadu. If I had changed my stance then, the history of Tamil Nadu politics would have undergone a change,” he said.