Vijay’s TVK Faces Karur Fallout, Alliance Buzz, Legal Heat

Chennai, October 12: The mood inside Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) feels uneasy these days. Ever since the Karur stampede claimed 41 lives, there’s been a quiet heaviness around the party’s usually animated offices. The banners are still up, but the energy has shifted. What was supposed to be a clean political launch for Vijay, one of Tamil cinema’s biggest stars, has turned into a storm that refuses to pass.

The Rumour That Wouldn’t Die

A few mornings ago, T.T.V. Dhinakaran stood before reporters and claimed that Edappadi K. Palaniswami, chief of the AIADMK, was ready to walk out of the BJP alliance if Vijay agreed to come aboard. He said it with that mix of confidence and provocation he’s known for. Within hours, the statement caught fire on social media.

By evening, Thol Thirumavalavan of the VCK was on camera, calling the talk “a fantasy,” accusing AIADMK leaders of planting gossip to confuse voters. The denial was sharp, maybe too sharp, which only kept the rumour alive. In Tamil Nadu politics, sometimes denying a rumour gives it more oxygen than silence ever could.

Inside AIADMK circles, few wanted to comment. One senior functionary, speaking off the record, said there was “no conversation” with TVK at any level, but admitted that “many in the party watch Vijay’s moves closely.” It was the kind of half-denial that reveals more than it hides.

Karur: From Tragedy To Trial

For Vijay, the Karur incident remains an open wound. What began as a welfare event meant to showcase TVK’s grassroots work turned into a nightmare, a deadly crush of thousands, mostly women, rushing toward a stage.

In the weeks that followed, the Madras High Court ordered a Special Investigation Team to probe the matter. TVK quickly challenged that in the Supreme Court, demanding a CBI investigation instead. The next hearing is scheduled for October 13, and the party is treating it as a make-or-break moment.

Amid this, a smaller story broke this morning: Nirmal Kumar, TVK’s Dindigul South district secretary, was arrested for allegedly posting defamatory remarks about a judge linked to the case. It’s a sign of how raw emotions still run inside the organisation. The leadership is trying to project calm, but its rank and file are clearly restless.

Silence As Strategy

Through all this, TVK went quiet. For sixteen days, the party that usually floods social media with slogans and short videos said almost nothing. Many took it as a sign of retreat. But Aadhav Arjuna, one of TVK’s visible faces, insisted the silence was deliberate, a mark of mourning for the Karur victims. “We didn’t want to politicise grief,” he said.

Still, silence rarely survives in Tamil Nadu’s noisy politics. Rival parties used the lull to question Vijay’s leadership. Some within TVK have also started voicing frustration. Actor-activist Thadi Balaji openly criticised Bussy Anand, the party’s general secretary, over the handling of the crisis. “Is this all just talk?” he asked on camera, his tone equal parts disbelief and anger.

It’s the first visible crack in a movement that’s otherwise built around loyalty to one man. TVK’s growth so far has been driven less by ideology and more by Vijay’s aura a fan base translating into political muscle. But charisma doesn’t manage crises; discipline does.

Vijay’s Next Move

Vijay has stayed out of public confrontation, though not inactive. According to party sources, he’s spoken via video call to 33 families affected by the Karur tragedy, promising continued assistance. On October 17, he’s scheduled to visit Karur in person, where two venues have been booked under tight police conditions. The district administration has insisted on limited attendance and no press access.

That measured restraint fits Vijay’s public persona calm, courteous, rarely emotional in front of cameras. Yet privately, aides say he’s been shaken. One person close to him described the past two weeks as “the hardest since he entered politics.”

To make matters more complicated, Vijay is also contesting a ₹1.5-crore penalty from the Income Tax Department over a 2015–16 assessment. His lawyers have argued that the penalty is time-barred. It’s another case hanging over his head while the political pressure mounts.

Politics Of Sympathy And Strategy

In Tamil Nadu, emotion often writes the script before strategy does. The Karur tragedy gave Vijay both sympathy and scrutiny two forces that can either lift a politician or bury him. The public still sees him as “Thalapathy,” the straight-talking hero who promises decency in politics. But his opponents are already using Karur to chip away at that image, saying the actor who vowed discipline couldn’t even manage his own crowd.

Meanwhile, the AIADMK–BJP marriage continues to look uneasy, and Dhinakaran’s barbs have only added to the speculation. In the state’s political bazaar, every leader is both buyer and seller, trading rumours, testing loyalties, watching which way the crowd turns.

Vijay seems to be playing the long game. He’s waiting for the court ruling, for the mourning to subside, for the political weather to shift. Those close to him say he’s in “listening mode,” talking less, observing more. It’s a choice few Tamil Nadu politicians have the patience for, but maybe that’s what makes him different.

Politics here rewards drama, yet sometimes, quiet resolve can be louder than any speech.

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Ananya Sharma

Senior Political Correspondent – Ananya@hindustanherald.in – Web

Covers Indian politics, governance, and policy developments with over a decade of experience in political reporting.

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