‘Vijay is replacement for Rajinikanth’ says Tamil Nadu speaker

Actor Vijay’s first political party conference in Tamil Nadu is still reverberating in the state with various other politicians reacting to his maiden political rally.
Popularly known as Thalapathy Vijay, the 50-year-old actor in his debut political speech at Villupuram had listed his party’s ideas, and had ripped into the ruling DMK as well as the BJP.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu, on Monday, implied that Vijay was Rajinikanth’s replacement for the BJP. Talking to the media, he said: “As you all know, BJP tried to bring Rajinikanth into politics but as he didn’t, Vijay is the replacement. I’m not saying this… but this is what is being said.”
“Bussy Anand is the general secretary of Vijay’s party. It is being said that Bussy Anand is from Puducherry and is close to BJP minister (A) Namassivayam and Home Minister Amit Shah. In fact, Vijay’s father himself called Bussy Anand a criminal,” Appavu said.
Appavu added that the TVK founder had said DMK men were earning through corruption. “But the way he has been brought in (to politics) looks like he has got caught up in huge tax evasion. So before calling someone corrupt, you should be clean,” the Speaker stated.
Previously, state law minister S Reghupathy had taken a dig at Vijay’s party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), calling it the “C team” of the BJP.
On the other hand, senior Congress leader Chidambaram, while welcoming Vijay starting his own political party, said that instead of cinema dialogues, he should have talked about his party ideology.
“As a part of his new party, he spoke about seat sharing and power sharing. I hope he will speak more about (his) party ideology. I’m happy that he spoke about certain ideologies of the Congress. Certain things he spoke I’m not happy about,” the former Union minister said.
He also criticised Vijay for comparing fascism to ‘payasam’ (sweet porridge). “All this sounds like cinema dialogues. (We) don’t accept cinema dialogues as ideologies,” Chidambaram said.
Chidambaram also commented on Vijay’s assurance about seat sharing, saying only elections could determine it. “At one time, only one party ruled at the Centre, but after 1996, several parties are ruling in an alliance. So whatever is not possible now might become possible someday,” he said.
Considering Vijay in his Sunday speech had not criticised AIADMK much, the party chief Edappadi K Palaniswamy (EPS) said, “It means AIADMK has performed well.”
However, EPS refused to comment on TVK’s ideology. “Each party has its own ideology, which he has explained. We can’t say if it is right or wrong,” he said.
The AIADMK chief, however, was non-committal about a possible alliance with TVK. “We have 18 months for elections. He has just now started a party and conducted (his) first state conference. Alliance will be made based on circumstances,” he said.