Actor-politician Vijay-led TVK on Friday claimed that the Centre's ruling BJP has been putting pressure on it for an alliance in the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. "Earlier, they (BJP) were not exerting pressure. It is only now that they have begun to do so," Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) general secretary (policy and propaganda) Arun Raj said in Madurai, as per news agency PTI.
He stressed that the new party would not forge an alliance with the BJP.
“They tried to apply pressure in many ways. It has even gone to the extent of CBI inquiry and stalling of Vijay's film (Jananayagan). You (media) know what happened,” Arun Raj said.
Vijay had appeared before the CBI in Delhi on January 12 for questioning in a probe into the stampede at his rally in Karur last year.
Arun Raj referred to Vijay's remarks from a party event in Mahabalipuram, where Vijay ruled out any alliance with "communal forces", a reference to the BJP.
"It takes courage to declare that the ruling parties both at the Centre and the state are enemies," Raj said, also referring thus to the ruling DMK which has an alliance with the Congress.
Raj was responding to a query about why Vijay was not seen directly criticising the BJP.
{{/usCountry}}Raj was responding to a query about why Vijay was not seen directly criticising the BJP.
{{/usCountry}}In his reply, he referred the party's debut conference of late 2024, where Vijay laid out a clear distinction between his "ideological enemies" and his “political rivals”.
Vijay had identified the BJP as his party’s primary ideological opponent. He characterised the BJP’s politics as "divisive" and “communal”, contrasting it with TVK’s core ideology of “secular social justice”.
The DMK was indirectly targeted as the “political enemy”. Vijay accused the party of "hiding behind the Dravidian model" while engaging in "underground deals" and family-centric politics.
Vijay has also been vocal against policies like ‘One Nation, One Election’ and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), viewing them as an encroachment on state rights and federalism.
Vijay has stated that TVK would follow the paths of BR Ambedkar and Periyar EV Ramasamy.
At the time, Vijay had preemptively dismissed allegations that he was a "B-Team" for the BJP. He asserted that TVK is an independent force that would not be a proxy for any national or state-level established player.