Vijay storms AIADMK fortress, claims he alone fights DMK like MGR and Jayalalithaa

Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday (September 30) took the fight into the heart of western Tamil Nadu, launching a simultaneous attack on both the DMK and the AIADMK from Dharapuram, long regarded as an AIADMK fortress, and declared that he alone stands as the true successor to MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa in opposing the “evil force”.

Addressing a campaign rally for TVK candidate P Sathyabama ahead of the October 6 by-election, Vijay said voting for either the DMK or the AIADMK now amounted to the same thing. “Both are one and the same; they wear masks outside, but they are in collusion,” he charged. He accused the two parties of conspiring to prevent the TVK from forming a government and said they must be taught a lesson.

“I am the only one who, like MGR and Jayalalithaa, boldly opposes the DMK even now,” Vijay told the gathering. He asked how the AIADMK, founded to fight the DMK, could now contemplate any understanding with it. “If MGR and Jayalalithaa, who always opposed the evil force DMK, plan to ally with the DMK to form a government, it would be humiliating them.” He described the AIADMK as having first functioned as a BJP branch and now as a DMK branch that copies the latter’s statements.

81-year-old former AIADMK leader joins TVK

Vijay also mocked the AIADMK for “giving a blow” or providing support to the DMK whenever he raised issues such as the Sarkaria Commission. He listed welfare measures implemented in the first 100 days of TVK rule and appealed to Kongu region voters, whom he called hardworking people standing on the side of truth, to back Sathyabama.

Also read: The good and bad of the Vijay government's policy U-turns

The rally carried extra political weight because Dharapuram is part of the Kongu belt that traditionally backed the AIADMK. The bypolls in Dharapuram and Madurantakam were necessitated after sitting AIADMK MLAs resigned and joined the ruling TVK.

In a symbolic moment at the same venue, 81-year-old former AIADMK minister S Semmalai formally joined the TVK. Vijay draped a party shawl around the veteran leader who had served in Jayalalithaa’s 2001–06 Cabinet and remained with the AIADMK for more than four decades. Party insiders suggested the leadership was more interested in Semmalai himself than his son, believing his presence would project the image of an MGR-era AIADMK worker recognising Vijay as another MGR.

Heightened emotions

The meeting also produced an emotional scene. Candidate Sathyabama broke down on stage, saying DMK supporters had subjected her to vulgar criticism on social media and that she had done nothing wrong. Vijay immediately stepped forward and consoled her. At one point during his own speech, Vijay reportedly said “TVK” when he meant “AIADMK”; clips of the slip were quickly circulated by IT wings of both the AIADMK and DMK.

Also read: Together in govt, opposed in politics: CEC protest reveals TVK-Congress disconnect again

Health Minister KG Arunraj, in charge of the constituency, sharpened the attack on AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami. He called EPS “a self-serving man who claims ‘I too belong to the Kongu region’” but acts against the core Kongu values of truth, hard work and self-respect, and alleged he had betrayed the very purpose for which MGR founded the movement.

AIADMK spokesperson and actor Vindhiya hit back, pointing to what she described as inconsistency. Vijay had earlier said the only contest was between the DMK and TVK and dismissed the AIADMK as a small party, she noted, yet he had now deployed his entire cabinet of ministers to win the Dharapuram bypoll in what remains an AIADMK stronghold.

From bipolar to triangular politics

Political observer Thayalan Shanmugam was unimpressed by the speech itself. He said there was little that was new or striking in Vijay’s remarks and doubted that equating the AIADMK with the DMK would land well in Dharapuram. While minister KA Sengottaiyan was given prominence on stage, Shanmugam said the local Gounder community already understands that Sengottaiyan no longer holds real influence inside the party.

Also read: Vijay in Madurantakam: ‘A vote for DMK is a vote for those who insult women’

More significantly, he argued, the TVK has now placed the AIADMK on its list of principal enemies. “Does this mean Vijay is acknowledging that Tamil Nadu no longer has bipolar politics but triangular politics?” Shanmugam remarked, adding that a three-way contest could itself become a source of pressure for the TVK.

The Dharapuram campaign thus marked a clear escalation: After months of focusing fire mainly on the DMK, the ruling party has opened a second front against the AIADMK on the latter’s traditional turf, even as it continues to absorb former AIADMK leaders. Whether the dual attack helps or fragments the anti-incumbency vote will be tested on October 6.