Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam chief, actor-politician Vijay on Saturday took his political fight directly to DMK President and Chief Minister M K Stalin by targeting him over his foreign trips, fishermen and farmers issues and by alleging "family dominance."
The chief of the fledgling TVK asserted at Tiruvarur that his party's goal is to ensure that there is no "family dominance" in Tamil Nadu, hitting out at CM Stalin and blamed him for blocking the state's progress.
Vijay, reiterating that the 2026 Assembly election will be a fight confined to his party, the TVK and the DMK, targeted the state's ruling party in a rally he addressed at Nagapattinam on the fishermen issue and focused on farmers issues at Tiruvarur.
Without naming anyone, he said some leaders needed to be given retirement and alleged that Chief Minister Stalin only wrote letters to the Prime Minister and later remained "silent."
"We are not DMK to write letters on fishermen's problems and remain silent. Our agenda is to ensure a lasting solution to the fishermen issue and also those of the Sri Lankan Tamils," he said and criticised the BJP government for allegedly discriminating against the Tamil Nadu fishermen.
On Stalin's foreign trips to secure investments for the state, Vijay wondered if the tours were really meant to obtain investment for Tamil Nadu or invest in companies abroad.
"CM sir, tell me from your heart, is it investment from abroad or investment abroad? Is the overseas trip meant to fetch investment for the state or to secure your family's investment abroad?" he asked.
He lashed out at the ruling DMK for allegedly imposing numerous conditions for his political meetings and asked if the state government would dare to impose such conditions during the visits of the Prime Minister or Union Home Minister.
Responding to criticism by some political parties that he chose to attend political meetings only during weekends, Vijay said the rallies were scheduled to ensure the public and his followers were not disturbed.
At a rally in Tiruvarur, he switched to farmers grievances.
Alleging that the Cauvery delta farmers are enduring the pain of having to pay Rs 40 per 40-kg bag as "commission" for loading and unloading purposes at the paddy procuement centres in the Tiruvarur district, he said farmers themselves got only Rs 10 from the government per bag.
"For one ton, Rs 1,000 is the commission. If you calculate, many crores of rupees has been extorted as commission from Cauvery delta farmers during the past four and a half years," he said adding farmers themselves conveyed to him the commission allegation and hence, he believed it.
"Farmers do not utter lies. CM sir, this has happened in your party-led government's tenure and what answer are you going to provide?" He, however, did not elaborate on who took the alleged commission from farmers.
Vijay targeted the DMK over basic amenities including inadequate road infrastructure in Tiruvarur and said his party's goal is to build a Tamil Nadu that has no poverty and corruption.
The goal is to ensure that the state has "no dominance of a family." Also, the objective is to usher in a "true democracy, one that has a conscience." The actor-politician took away the green towel from his shoulders and used it as a head gear with smile and profusely thanked the people for their support.
Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam were part of the erstwhile composite Thanjavur district and they form part of Tamil Nadu's fertile Cauvery delta region. Tirukkuvalai, which now falls in Nagapattinam district is the birth place of iconic DMK leader M Karunanidhi. Tirukkuvalai is also near Tiruvarur.
The ancient temple town of Tiruvarur, is closely associated with Karunanidhi's life and times and the overall delta region has a wide and deep support base for the Dravidian movement and the Left parties also had traditionally enjoyed considerably good support.
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