GK Vasan's TMC will contest civic body polls in Tamil Nadu alone. (File)
Ending its alliance with Vijayakanth's DMDK and Vaiko's People Welfare Front combine, GK Vasan's Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) today announced that it will face upcoming civic polls in Tamil Nadu alone. The announcement also ended speculation that Mr Vasan was looking to tie-up with the DMK before the polls.
The TMC-DMDK-PWF combine was formed during assembly elections in May, but could not make a decisive impact in the final outcome.
Mr Vasan said that efforts had been on in the party for the last three months to face civic body polls single-handedly.
"Based on that, now a conducive atmosphere has emerged for us to face the local body polls by ourselves. Our local units are already making preparations," he said.
Explaining that the DMDK-PWF combine was made to present a "decent" and "alternative" politics, he said that the reason why it fared poorly in the assembly elections was that they did not have the time to reach out to people.
Referring to his reports of a pact with the DMK ahead of local body polls, being held in two phases next month, Mr Vasan said that attempt was made because "local leaders desired so," but he did not specify why the efforts failed to materialize.
He had recently called on DMK treasurer MK Stalin, triggering speculation of an alliance.
Mr Vasan, who quit the Congress in 2014, worked to revive his father GK Moopanar's Tamil Maanila Congress, said that national parties "ignored" Tamil Nadu's interests while regional parties were not keen on national issues. The TMC strived for both, he added.