DMK president M.K. Stalin on Saturday (June 6, 2026) called upon party workers to take a pledge to bring down the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) government, which he said was surviving with the support of parties that were once part of the DMK-led alliance and had won seats in the Assembly.

“The TVK government is, in a way, being sustained by our support because our former alliance partners are backing it. These are the very parties that wanted us to win the election. Their leaders themselves clarified that they had consulted me before extending support to the TVK. I told them that they had the democratic right to take such a decision,” he said, while admitting cadres from various parties into the DMK.

Mr. Stalin said his objective was to prevent the imposition of Governor’s Rule in Tamil Nadu, which, he alleged, would effectively enable the BJP to rule the State through the Governor. “But soon, we must take a pledge to bring down the TVK government,” he said.

‘Have faced victories and defeats’

He said the DMK had alternated between victory and defeat over the years. “Victory never went to our head, and we never lost heart after defeat. DMK workers accept both victory and defeat with equanimity and continue to work for the party,” he said.

Pointing out that the DMK lost power during the Emergency because party leader and then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had gathered people on the Marina Beach and adopted a resolution opposing the Emergency, Mr. Stalin said: “He believed that democracy was more important than holding on to power.”

“Again, we lost the government in 1991 on the pretext of the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. We returned to power in 1996, but lost again in 2001. We won in 2006 and came back to power only in 2021,” he said.

Mr. Stalin said that while people often leave their parties to join the ruling party in pursuit of personal interests, those joining the DMK had done so despite it being in the Opposition.

“But you have joined the DMK, an Opposition party, not for positions or a luxurious life, but to stand by the party, work for the Tamil people and restore democracy,” he said.