Chennai, Dec 9 (PTI) VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan on Monday announced the suspension of party deputy general secretary, Aadhav Arjuna for six months, days after the latter's 'monarchy' comment aimed at the ruling DMK.

Aadhav Arjuna, the son-in-law of lottery mogul Santiago Martin, is in the eye of a storm for his comment that the rule of 'monarchy' in Tamil Nadu should be ended, targeting the DMK, with which he was associated ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls.

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The suspended deputy general secretary had also recently put forth the demand of share in power, an ideological standpoint of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a key constituent of the DMK-led bloc in Tamil Nadu.

Thirumavalavan said in a statement that Arjuna's functioning affected the party interests and a top level party administrative committee decided to take disciplinary action against him.

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Arjuna, in his reaction, indicated that time will decide the possible results of the party's action against him and said he built VCK's campaign based on the party's ideology of attaining political power.

Quoting the opening line from a popular song, from an old Tamil film, he hinted that he cannot be stopped and that he will always be the voice of cadres. He said he regarded both the appointment (as party deputy general secretary) and suspension letters with the same mindset.

He asserted that he will continue to follow Ambedkar, Periyar EV Ramasamy and Dravidian icon CN Annadurai.

The suspended leader said his 'monarchy' comment only denoted a state of mind, which does not want the oppressed people to get power.

He said he will fight against it, break that mindset and vigorously work to get power for the oppressed people in a democratic manner.

The slogan of 'share in governance and power,' should be continued till such time Dalits and other oppressed people got it and only that could be honest politics for the sake of people.

At a function here on December 6, that marked the release of the book 'Ellorukkumana Thalaivar Ambedkar,' (Ambedkar, a leader for all) by TVK founder-president, actor Vijay, Arjuna made the 'monarchy' comment.

In the same event, Vijay continued to target the DMK and accused the ruling party of being arrogant, as it has been maintaining that it would win 200 seats out of the total 234 Assembly segments in the 2026 Assembly polls.

Thirumavalavan later told reporters that Arjuna's recent activities led to a situation that could have an impact on the party's reputation and credibility.

Orally, Arjuna had been given instructions to act in sync with party line and since he violated such guidelines, action has been now taken.

The VCK chief said he had, ahead of the book launch event, conveyed to Arjuna to avoid talking politics in the function and confine himself to revolutionary leader Dr Ambedkar and the background to the book.

The deputy general secretary's speech that day violated the advisory and led to controversies, warranting action.

"The six month suspension provides space to him to approach us and give us an explanation," the VCK chief said.

Answering a question, he said there was no pressure from the DMK side on the VCK on the issue concerning Arjuna.

Thirumavalavan said his decision to stay away from the December 6 book release event, in which actor Vijay took part, was an independent choice.

Though there had been no issues with Vijay's party, the TVK, a participation in that event may have provided opportunities to rivals to 'spin stories.' Hence, Thirumavalavan said, he did not participate in that event, considering party interests.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)