Chennai: TNCC president Manickam Tagore on Saturday backed VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan’s remarks on DMK and TVK coming together at the national level to jointly take on BJP.On his way to Coimbatore to console the families of students who died by suicide this year over NEET-related distress, Tagore told reporters at Chennai airport that Congress supported the VCK leader’s view. “Thirumavalavan’s remarks are far-sighted and should not be viewed through the lens of contemporary politics or the politics of MLAs in the state assembly. He was referring to opposition to BJP at the national level. He did not mean that the two parties should set aside their differences and contest together in Tamil Nadu,” he said.The TNCC leader compared such an arrangement to the Congress-Left understanding at the national level, describing it as the “Kerala model”. In Kerala, Congress and CPM contest against each other, but at the national level they are united in their opposition to BJP. A similar model should evolve in Tamil Nadu too, and both parties should be ready for it. Congress and CPM will fight in Kerala but share the table in Delhi. We have that level of maturity,” he said.Thirumavalavan had recently proposed the model at an event, suggesting that DMK and TVK should join hands. The idea, however, drew strong opposition from within the alliance, with MDMK general secretary Vaiko rejecting it, saying DMK and TVK were parties at opposite poles and could not come together.Tagore later launched an anti-NEET campaign in Coimbatore on Saturday. At the event, he alleged serious flaws in the national testing system, claiming that the NEET question paper had been leaked at 90 locations across the country. He also said better days were ahead for Congress and urged party cadres to prioritise public service, adding that BJP had failed in Tamil Nadu because it did not understand local dynamics.
