The sight of people carrying Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) flags during Chief Minister and TVK president C Joseph Vijay’s roadshow in Madurantakam on Friday has added fresh fuel to speculation that the PMK could be warming up to the ruling TVK.
The presence of PMK flags during Vijay’s campaign is being closely watched because the party has a support base in Madurantakam.
PMK sources, however, say there has been no official instruction to support TVK and suggest that the flags could have been carried by enthusiastic cadres or individual supporters. PMK chief Anbumani Ramadoss has also criticised TVK candidate Maragatham Kumaravel over her resignation from the AIADMK and switch to TVK. For Vijay, the stakes are particularly high as he heads a minority government that is short of the majority mark. A victory in Madurantakam and Dharapuram would not immediately bridge the entire gap but could give the ruling party important political momentum and set the tone for the bypolls to the other five vacant seats, whenever they are held. Those polls have been held up by pending election-related cases. Winning the two seats would also take TVK closer to strengthening its numbers in the Assembly and give Vijay greater political room as his government enters its early months. TVK has been projecting itself as the new alternative to the AIADMK and DMK, while attacking the AIADMK as a declining force after Jayalalithaa’s death.
The October 6 verdict could therefore have implications well beyond Madurantakam – for the strength of Vijay’s minority government, the future of the five other vacant seats and the alliance equations taking shape ahead.
The party has also accused EPS of attempting to forge an alliance with the DMK before the Assembly election to prevent TVK from forming the government – an allegation Palaniswami has denied.
