Politics
DMK-VCK Alliance Debate Refuses To Die Down, Now Aadhav Arjuna Stirs The Pot
Aadhav Arjuna (centre), Thirumavalavan (left) and Chief Minister M K Stalin.
In a recent interview, Aadhav Arjuna, the deputy general secretary of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), once again brought up the party’s desire for ‘power sharing’ in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) alliance.
Among the remarks that caught attention were Arjuna asking if cinema stars entering politics wanted to become the chief minister, or somebody who entered politics yesterday is slated to become the deputy chief minister (seen as a reference to Udhayanidhi Stalin), why could not his party chief, Thirumavalavan, become the chief minister and that the DMK was dependent on the VCK to win seats, especially in northern Tamil Nadu.
His statements come a few days after people started feeling that the issue, which started with the VCK's invite to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for a conference to call for the prohibition of liquor, had ended for now.
The invite had sparked speculation that the VCK, whose primary support base is amongst Dalits, was willing to jump ship and join hands with the AIADMK, in order to get a better bargain, ie, more seats in the 2026 assembly elections and a few ministerial berths in the state cabinet.
Amongst the reasons stated to say that the two allies had moved on from the matter were the DMK stating that it was also joining the conference, Thirumavalavan's meeting with Chief Minister M K Stalin and the insistence that the alliance was intact.
The remarks are significant because Arjuna is the son-in-law of Santiago Martin, (also known as ‘Lottery Martin’), who donated a huge amount of money (Rs 509 crore) to the DMK through electoral bonds. Furthermore, Arjuna was believed to be close to V Sabareesan (Stalin’s son in law).
However, what is different this time is that the VCK does not seem to be defending Arjuna. The party’s MP from Villupuram, D Ravikumar, said that these were politically immature comments and that they could impact the alliance.
The DMK too does not seem to have taken it lightly. A Raja, who is the party’s Dalit face, expressed his displeasure with the remarks. Raja said that he has a long standing relationship with Thirumavalavan and was sure that he would not agree with what a newbie (Arjuna had joined the party in February 2024) had said. He added that he believed Thirumavalavan would take action against him.
According to political commentators, what could have irked the DMK further are that even the other remarks (which did not gather as much attention) were quite strong.
At one instance he mentioned how Thirumavalavan could speak for two hours without reading out from a paper. This was seen as a reference to Chief Minister Stalin, who is often mocked by the opposition as "tundu cheetu Stalin" for being dependent on reading out from bits of papers provided to him.
In another, when he was asked if the demand for a share in power was right as the VCK had a vote share of just around 2 per cent, Arjuna took a potshot at the DMK and asked if a party had a vote share of 30 per cent, why does it not contest alone instead of allying with those having vote shares of 2 per cent, 6 per cent, etc.
What the VCK chooses to do regarding Arjuna’s probing remarks will have to be seen but they have undoubtedly set off yet another round of debate on the matter and caused some fresh discomfort among the two parties.
