Thirumavalavan, the Leader & Founder of Dalit Panther of India today joined AIADMK to face the forthcoming assembly election. It was an unexpected move, since he was very close to Dr. Ramadoss of PMK, who is in DPA - DMK alliance. It was said that DMK didn't afford any seat / rejected his plea in joining the DPA alliance. Also, the DMK President had recently said he had no objection if the PMK chose to give some seats to the DPI from its quota, and it was expected like that.
ADMK made an official announcement about the electoral alliance after DPI General Secretary Thol Thirumavalavan called on ADMK Supremo and Chief Minister J Jayalalitha at her Poes Garden residence this morning, and he was given 9 seats in TamilNadu & Ponicherry.
But DPI, who has less than 1% vote bank in the state, and nearly 10 - 20 % in areas like Chidambaram, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri etc., faced the General Election 2004 with Janata Dal - United. In Chidambaram Parliamentary constituency Thirumavalavan contested in the General Election 2004, and lost. But the best of all is : he is the person, who has got 2.6 Lac votes in 7.4 Lacs votes casted, which is very good, since he opposed both DMK lead DPA alliance & AIADMK alliance & made the BJP candidate to forfeit his deposit.
The DPI had contested on the DMK symbol in the 2001 Assembly election in 8 seats and won just 1. Thirumavalavan, who won on the DMK ticket, quit the alliance and gave up his seat in 2004. This is also being seen as one of the reasons for the DMK to turn the DPI away. But, Thirumavalavan issued several open invitations to the PMK ( Dr Ramadoss), who floated the 'Tamil Protection Movement' jointly with Mr Thirumavalavan to join him in a third front, which Ramadoss didn't accept.
As of now, DPI (Dalit Panther of India) is an unrecognized party in the state. So this is a good chance for DPI / Thirumavalavan to get RECOGNIZED.