The DMK failed to see the real rival sneaking into every house during the recently-concluded Assembly election, said former State Minister and DMK Virudhunagar North district secretary Thangam Thennarasu.

Addressing party workers here on Wednesday, Mr. Thennarasu said that the DMK noticed only the visible rival AIADMK but failed to take notice of the real enemy (TVK) in the political field. “While our election works were up to only the entrances of each house, a new invisible force had sneaked into each house across Tamil Nadu. We failed to take note of family conversations,” he said.

Stating that the ruling TVK had mesmerised the people through their social media presence, he said that the rival had adopted the strategy of turning lies into truth by repeatedly telling it. “The TVK is living in the digital world, which has been used in foreign countries to win elections. We should also change our strategy and use the same weapon that is used by the enemy to create awareness among the people to explain the truth,” Mr. Thennarasu said. To think that the enemy has formed a grand political party and captured the power is an illusion, he added.

Describing the victory of TVK as a fractured verdict, Mr. Thennarasu said adding that the the TVK could not win even single seat in eight districts. “The TVK, which captured power through creating an illusion, was struggling as it was directionless in taking forward the regime,” he noted.

The DMK president’s decision to stay away from forming the government helped the TVK form the government and avoid another election forced upon the State that could have been caused by a hung Assembly. The former Finance Minister said that only after Mr. Stalin warned of people’s uprising, did the TVK government deposit ₹1,000 monthly assistance under Kalaignar Mahilar Urimai Thogai for the month of May.

He said that the failure of party president, M.K. Stalin, to win from Kolathur Assembly seat had hurt every DMK cadre. “Even in 1962, the DMK founder, C.N. Annadurai could not enter the Assembly even as 50 DMK MLAs won the election. But, in 1967 Annadurai entered the Assembly as Chief Minister. Similary, whenever the next Assembly election is conducted, only Mr. Stalin will become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,” he added.

Recalling that the DMK president was sending teams to investigate into the defeat of DMK in the Assembly election, he appealed to the party workers to express their views with clarity based on which the DMK’s future strategy would be formulated.

DMK Virudhunagar South district secretary, K. K. S. S. R. Ramachandran, Tenkasi MP, Rani Shrikumar, Sattur MLA, A. Kadarkarairaj, former MP, Dhanush K. Kumar, former MLA, S. Thangpandian, were among those who were present.