Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay returned to Chennai on Thursday, after his first trip to New Delhi. In his debut trip to the national capital, Vijay met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cited issues linked to Tamil Nadu that required the Centre’s intervention.
However, what drew the eyeballs was Vijay’s failure to meet the top Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, despite being alliance partners. The action became a talking point in Tamil Nadu as the support of Congress was crucial in TVK forming the government.
Speculation was that Rahul Gandhi had arranged a special breakfast for Vijay, but the meeting was called off. There were also reports that Vijay would unveil the newly installed Thiruvalluvar statue at Jawaharlal Nehru University. However, nothing materialised.
State Congress leaders clarified this, with Congress MP Christopher Tilak said that Chief Minister Vijay was on an official visit to Delhi and did not have the time to meet Rahul Gandhi. There is no issue with the Chief Minister not visiting the High Command leaders, the MP said.
“The Vijay-Rahul Gandhi meeting has not been cancelled; it has only been postponed.” He also said, “The Chief Minister is likely to come to Delhi again for the NITI Aayog meeting on June 11. Then he may meet Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.”
While some cite that the meeting did not happen because the High Command was busy with a leadership change in Karnataka, speculations are that some leaders are unhappy with the way the TVK attempts to woo AIADMK legislators. Many AIADMK leaders are jumping ship to the TVK, and Minister Aadava Arjun has claimed that 90 per cent of AIADMK MLAs would end up in TVK soon.
This move has not gone down well with Congress, according to local media reports. Congress MP S. Jothimani had openly opposed this, saying that it was like “horse-trading” and that his party should not support it. She added that the party cannot support all of the TVK’s practices.
“The Congress Party can never take a dual stance of supporting horse-trading in Tamil Nadu and opposing it outside Tamil Nadu. If the Congress Party acts as a force that weakens democracy, it will become a historic betrayal of Gandhi, Nehru and the policies they espoused,” she added.
