Chennai, Sep 5 — A crucial meeting of political parties supporting the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government will be held on September 9, with the ruling formation expected to announce a formal name for the alliance and discuss its future political structure.
Ahead of the meeting, senior TVK leaders and ministers on Friday reached out to the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), formally inviting them to participate in the deliberations.
Ministers and senior TVK functionaries Anand, Aadhav Arjuna, CTR Nirmal Kumar and Rajmohan met leaders of the three parties separately in Chennai.
The TVK delegation visited the CPI and CPI-M state headquarters in T. Nagar and held discussions with their respective State secretaries, Veerapandian and Shanmugam. They later met MDMK general secretary Vaiko at Anna Nagar. Nirmal Kumar described the meetings as courtesy calls and said the leaders had been invited to the September 9 consultation.
Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay is also expected to participate in the meeting.
Vaiko confirmed that he had received the invitation on behalf of the Chief Minister and said the MDMK would attend the meeting.
The outreach assumes significance as the CPI and CPI-M stayed away from the first consultative meeting of parties supporting the TVK government, held at a private hotel in Kovalam on July 1 under Vijay’s leadership. Congress, VCK, MDMK and the Indian Union Muslim League were among those that participated.
The July meeting discussed transforming the existing arrangement of parties supporting the government into a broader political alliance capable of jointly contesting future elections. Discussions also covered giving the alliance a common name, establishing a coordination committee and preparing a common minimum action programme.
Asked whether the CPI would participate in the September 9 meeting, Veerapandian said a decision would be taken after consultations within the party.
He said the Left had extended outside support to the TVK government respecting the people’s mandate and would support measures it considered to be in the right direction. However, the Left would continue to independently raise issues concerning workers and ordinary people, Veerapandian said.
The September 9 meeting is expected to provide greater clarity on the composition, leadership and organisational structure of the alliance, besides paving the way for its formal naming.