Chennai, March 18 TVK general secretary Aadhav Arjuna has claimed that his party leader Vijay was offered the post of chief minister, as well as 50 percent of the Assembly seats, by a party to contest in the upcoming election.
The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam was offered a 50:50 seat arrangement, along with the chief minister’s post, for a period of two and a half years, but party president Vijay declined, Arjuna said, without naming the party that had engaged the fledgling party in electoral negotiations and extended the offer.
The TVK will be making its electoral debut in the April 23 Assembly election.
During his recent interaction with the media, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami had insisted that his party was not involved in any talks with the TVK. BJP state chief Nainar Nagenthran endorsed Palaniswami’s stance on the issue, although it was widely speculated that sources close to the saffron party had attempted to negotiate with the TVK for a poll pact to take on the ruling DMK.
"Vijay is not someone who would compromise for the sake of the chief minister’s post. They offered us various things, from 50 to 90 seats. All that Vijay said was that he wanted the trust of the people of Tamil Nadu, not the chief minister’s post," Arjuna said, addressing a meeting of the TVK at Kolathur here on Tuesday night.
The TVK will be a strong force, and it will contest from all 234 constituencies and form a secular, social justice government, he said, adding that this was the message he wanted to convey to his Christian and Muslim friends.
