Chennai: Rumblings in the DMK-led alliance in the State and within the ranks of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), triggered by the repeated controversial utterances of VCK deputy general secretary, Aadhav Arjuna, were silenced on Monday with the VCK top brass cracking the whip on their errant new leader and their president Thol Thirumavalavan hobnobbing with Chief Minister M K Stalin at a book release function in the Secretariat.
Thirumavalavan announced the suspension of Aadhav Arjuna for six months from the party ‘in the interest of its welfare’ since the deputy general secretary’s recent activities were proving to be inimical to the VCK by threatening to set a bad example for its functionaries and also bringing down the reputation and credibility of the leadership in the public sphere.
Though Arjuna’s activities would be seen as efforts to strengthen the party’s administrative capabilities and enhance its welfare if viewed outwardly, they had actually created a negative feeling within the organization and an environment that could throw up a wrong example to others, Thirumavalavan said.
The suspensions brought to an end the resentment that started brewing in the VCK in late September when the party leadership was seemingly exerting undue pressure on the State government for ushering in prohibition by organizing a women's conference on October 2 with many suspecting the influence of Arjuna behind it.
Arjuna’s open averments then had been objected to by the DMK functionaries and also the VCK cadre. Though Thirumavalavan watered down his demand for prohibition by stating that it should a national policy, he did not do anything to quell Arjuna, who continued to attack the DMK in various forum in the pretext of asserting the rights of VCK to have a share in the power pie.
Things came to a boil when he openly declared that the DMK rule, which he described as ‘monarchy,’ would be brought down in 2026 and made a few other controversial remarks that left even senior VCK leaders themselves squirming and fuming, prompting top honchos to hold the discussion on Arjuna’s activities that were detrimental to the party’s interest. So after dilly-dallying for more than two months, he has been suspended by the leader.
Since Arjuna made those controversial remarks at a meeting organized by a Tamil magazine group to release a book on B R Ambedkar in the presence of the president of the Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam, Vijay, triggering speculations in Tamil social media that went gunho over it, the executive committee of the VCK comprising Thirumavalavan and the two general secretaries decided to take action against him.
Thirumavalavan attending the event at the Secretariat to release a book on M Karunanidhi along with Stalin sent across the message that the relationship between the two parties had strained by Arjuna's statements in front of Vijay.
Reacting to the suspension, Arjuna, in a message on X, said that just as a thousand hands could not block the sun (Adhavan in Tamil) he could not be stopped in his fight to realize the dream of Thirumavalavan to win power. On a long note, he reiterated the ‘monarchy’ term to describe the parties that ‘prevented the oppressed classes from coming to power’, which was an indirect reference to the DMK.
He said that he joined the VCK In January to help Thirumavalavan realize and that the lower rung cadre of the party knew how much he contributed towards drawing up strategies to achieve the goal. His state of mind, when he read the suspension order, was the same as that of the one he had when he received the appointment order as deputy general secretary signed by Thirumavalavan, he said, suggesting that he had taken it in his stride.
