Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK said actor-politician Vijay headed Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam copied its ideology, while the main opposition AIADMK stated that TVK's principles are a cocktail of current political standpoints of various parties.
Naam Tamizhar Katchi has ruled out chances of joining forces with the new entrant. While Vijay openly targeted the DMK and its first family in his debut public appearance for his party's inaugural event on Sunday, the DMK said it has seen many rivals in its long history.
During the first conference of Vijay's party, he said in a statement to PTI Videos: "This is the first conference and let us see, we have seen many parties." Stating that his party was blessed with very strong ideological moorings and long period of work in the party's 75 years journey, Elangovan said DMK leaders have gone to jail fighting people's causes and though several elections were lost, still, the party remained quite strong.
The DMK was built for fighting people's issues whereas Vijay's party dreams of being in power by 2026, when they are still fresh at the political field. As per Elangovan, "That is the difference between DMK and other parties.we are strong, we work for the people, we are for the people."
AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan wished Vijay for entering politics and he also admitted that he had a long way to go and deliver. He termed the ideology of the TVK as "a mix of ideology of all parties and old wine in new bottle.a cocktail ideology taken from all political parties in Tamil Nadu." He said the actor-politician seeking a caste census that the chief of TVK has spoken on a variety of topics and has said, "we will give time to him to put this in action."
BJP leader H Raja said that in terms of ideology, BJP is nationalist and its votebank will not be touched, and that Vijay's party may split the votes of Dravidian parties only, which can weaken the DMK a bit. "I hope Mr. Vijay would help me by speaking on Dravidian stock (ideology) and divide those votes," he said to reporters. The BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan welcomed the TVK during its inaugural conference saying it was fighting 'Udhaya', apparently the abbreviation for DMK leader and Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin.
Tamil nationalist and NTK top leader Seeman said, "you (TVK) accept EVR Periyar and thereby Dravidam (Dravidian ideology) and they say Dravidian model (DMK's tagline for its style of governance)". But NTK rejects the Dravidian ideology as well, asking, "What is this model for Tamil Nadu?"
When reporters asked him if TVK's open invitation to alliances and a share in power to electoral partners could be regarded as an invite to his party as well, Seeman clarified that it was not so and added that NTK's political journey is based on its crystal clear ideology and it cannot be dependent on others. "I have said that I will fight on my own," he says, referring to the apparent lack of thought in the ideology of Vijay's party. "We accept the rationalism of Periyar, but not his atheism," says TVK, as Seeman adds, "Atheism is a part of rationalism."
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