Vijayakanth meets Tamil Nadu bigwigs, to lead delegation to PM

Vijayakanth

A spate of meetings by DMDK leader Vijayakanth, an NDA ally who is otherwise unobtrusive and invisible in Tamil Nadu politics, surprised many in the political circles on Sunday. Within a span four-five hours, he visited almost all the bigwigs in the state politics, including DMK chief M Karunanidhi and his son M K Stalin, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief EVKS Elangovan and national spokesperson Khushboo, Tamil Manila Congress leader G K Vasan, MDMK leader Vaiko and BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan.

The objective of the meeting, according to Vijayakanth, was to lead an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to present Tamil Nadu’s case on Mekedatu Dam issue against Karnataka, the Land Acquisition Bill, the killing of 20 woodcutters from the state in Andhra Pradesh, the Mullaperiyar Dam issue and the frequent attacks on Tamil fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy. While all political parties have agreed to the idea of a delegation and named representatives for the meeting with Modi, the move triggered rumours of a possible alliance against the ruling AIADMK.

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While DMK and Congress leaderships were appeared positive on Vijayakanth’s visit and welcomed his idea of meeting Modi, especially after Tamil Nadu CM O Panneerselvan failed to do so even after repeated demands from the Opposition, sources in BJP said it could be also an informal launch of their election campaign with a strong pitch from DMDK to project Vijayakanth as the next CM candidate.

A senior BJP leader said the initiative taken by Vijayakanth to lead the delegation was informed to the party leadership, and top leaders had also helped to facilitate the meeting with Modi on Monday.