TMC leader GK Vasan

CHENNAI: Nearly two decades after his father G K Moopanar joined hands with J Jayalalithaa's AIADMK for the assembly election, opposed as he was to DMK's alliance with BJP, TMC leader G K Vasan is all set to join the AIADMK-led BJP-inclusive front and sign an agreement on Wednesday for a lone seat for the Lok Sabha election. TMC is likely to get Thanjavur though Vasan had sought a Rajya Sabha seat, sources confirmed. This comes in the wake of prolonged talks on Tuesday with ministers S P Velumani and P Thangamani, who visited Vasan at his residence in Chennai.

"In all likelihood, the TMC leader will field a family member in Thanjavur where the party has a strong base because of senior Moopanar," a party source said. Like other allies, the TMC too will extend support to AIADMK for the assembly by-elections and the arrangement will continue even during the local body polls. Leaders say this was an opportunity for Vasan to keep his flock together after the humiliating defeat his party suffered in the company of People's Welfare Front in the 2016 assembly election. The party which contested in 26 seats secured only 0.53% vote share.

There are concerns among some partymen in TMC that the leadership was deviating from its core secular principles that is in contrast with Moopanar's TMC. TMC vice-president B S Gnanadesikan, however, clarified that the party had not given up its "basic policies" by aligning with BJP. "Unfortunately, there is no strong leadership at the national level and people see Modi as a strong leader. We are part of the AIADMK-led NDA in the state," the leader said. The TMC's decision in the past election prompted several senior functionaries and former MLAs to switch to AIADMK and AMMK. Senior leader S R Balasubramoniyan too quit the party to join AIADMK and was later nominated to the Rajya Sabha by Jayalalithaa.

Moopanar associates recall how he refused to yield to pressure from former DMK chief M Karunanidhi to support the 1999 trust vote of the A B Vajpayee government that resulted in the 13-month-old government falling. Moopanar even rejected the BJP's offer of cabinet berths to his three MPs. While Moopanar got 47 seats from Jayalalithaa in 2001, he allotted 15 from his kitty to Congress and the TMC-Congress combine won 29 seats.

