Erode, 18 Dec

Actor-politician Vijay on Thursday launched a blistering attack against Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK, calling it an “evil force,” repeating a term often used by the late AIADMK stalwarts MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa to target the Dravidian party.

He said that the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) was a “pure force,” and the contest, apparently the 2026 electoral fight, was now confined only between these two, he said at a public meeting here.

This was his first public outreach in Tamil Nadu post the 27 September Karur rally of TVK where a stampede left 41 persons dead. He had held a closed door meeting with a select audience in Kancheepuram after that, besides addressing a rally at neighbouring Puducherry.

Referring to late Chief Ministers MGR and Jaylalithaa, he said they often described DMK as a "theeya sakthi" (evil force).

His TVK was a "thooya sakthi," (pure force).

"The contest is now between the thooya sakthi TVK and theeya sakthi DMK," he said in an apparent reference to the 2026 Assembly polls.

He also alleged a smear campaign was on against him by vested interests.

Late CMs CN Annadurai and MGR were inspiration for everyone and not individual property. None can complain against us for invoking them, he asserted.

He slammed the DMK dispensation on issues including law and order and agriculture.

Like former AIADMK senior KA Sengottaiyan, a local strongman who joined the TVK recently, more leaders would come to the party fold and they would be given their due recognition, Vijay said.