Chennai: DMK President M K Stalin on Saturday fired a fresh salvo against the ruling TVK alleging that the bypolls to two Assembly constituencies have been scheduled to be held next month in Tamil Nadu as “democracy itself has died.”
He urged the voters of Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies to vote for his party on October 6 to teach a “fitting lesson” to the ruling TVK and asked if the bypolls to these two assembly segments were a natural outcome.
“No, it is an imposed election. How arrogant they (TVK) must be to make members who won from other parties (AIADMK) resign before the indelible ink on their fingers has even dried,” the former chief minister said.
Stalin was addressing the party’s “Mupperum Vizha” here to mark the birth anniversaries of reformist leader ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy (Sep 17) and Dravidian icon and party founder CN Annadurai (Sep 15) and the DMK’s foundation day (Sep 17).
The TVK has fielded K Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama in Madurantakam and Dharapuram respectively.
They joined the ruling party after quitting the AIADMK and also after resigning their MLA posts. Both had won the 2026 Assembly polls as AIADMK nominees and defections is a key bypoll issue.
Against this background, the DMK chief said that “without a shred of shame,” the TVK has fielded the same people in these two segments in its party symbol, ‘whistle.’
Stalin said when questioned over this issue, the ruling party claims that it was not horse-trading, but pure governance. “Is this their shameless change,” he asked.
He further said that usually, a by-election happens when a legislative assembly member passes away.
“But for the first time, bypolls have been scheduled as democracy itself has died. This is precisely the point on which our party brothers must campaign, going door-to-door in both the constituencies, alongside highlighting the failures of this government,” the DMK president said.
He advised the party functionaries that in order to attract the ‘Gen-Z,’ it is important to speak in their language and accordingly, the party has to reach out to them through smartphones.
Targeting the government on law and order front, power cuts and a host of other issues like the ruling TVK’s unfulfilled poll promise of Rs 2,500 assistance per month for women, he alleged that 12 people have died following rise in dengue and virus cases, adding “the government says that it will now take action.”
Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay is “arrogant” and hopes for a “cover-up” of all such things through glamour, the DMK president alleged.
“He (the chief minister) is arrogant and does not meet the press and answer questions. The bypolls are an opportunity to teach a fitting lesson to such arrogance. I appeal to the voters of Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies to vote for the DMK to teach a fitting lesson to the ruling party.”
On the TVK regime questioning his incarceration under the draconian MISA during the infamous Emergency (1975-77), he said: “To those who talk about MISA, I have only one thing to say and that is, I have no need to prove my arrest under MISA to any of you. None of you have the locus standi to give marks to my sacrifice.”
He said his incarceration under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act had been recorded by DMK leader Chittibabu in his prison diary.
“That (diary) is an indelible inscription etched in time. Not only that, there is the report of the Ismail Commission, set up by late Chief Minister M G Ramachandran to investigate prison torture. I have given testimony. Everyone testified. Anyone who knows how to read should pick up the report and read it,” he said sarcastically.
The DMK chief also criticised the CM’s recent UK tour saying the people were asking why Vijay had been to London to inks pacts with companies that are headquartered in India.
On Assembly proceedings, Stalin said the House, which has a proud history of over a century, has now lost its dignity. When Leader of the Opposition, Udhayanidhi raised questions, the CM could not answer them.
In order to divert attention, Vijay irrelevantly referred to matters like the Sarkaria Commission report and levelled “defamatory allegations,” he claimed.
Slamming what he called defamatory allegations against the DMK by rivals (TVK), he vowed that, “time will ripen soon and we are waiting to pay back with interest.”
As regards the chief minister, he is constantly in the “film shooting mood,” Stalin slammed.
After claiming that he has stopped acting in cinema, Vijay is now acting in front of the public without revealing who the director or the cameraman is.
“First came punch dialogues, and now foreign shoots. It is all just reels,” Stalin alleged targeting Vijay.
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