He arrived close to an hour and half late, and walked in calmly with other leaders of the People’s Welfare Alliance to release their manifesto at Thayagam, MDMK’s headquarters at Egmore in Chennai on April 28. Two senior journalists, irritated over his prolonged delay, had already walked out of the press conference. And when Vaiko walked in, two other journalists lodged their protest.

Vaiko had just tided over the media criticism for his sudden backing out of the electoral contest. So he put the manifesto down, and went into a long-winding explanation for his delay, and the journalists rued the moment they decided to ask him why he was late. And when he finished, he looked at the journalists and said cynically, “Next time I will come on time, ok sir?”

Soon after the release of the manifesto, Vaiko walked out in haste and refused to answer questions. And it wasn’t until he left for his campaign at 4PM that he answered The News Minute’s questions.

Does he really think that the PWF can have a considerable impact on the 2016 polls? Isn’t his sudden u-turn from contesting in the polls not an embarrassment, will it not affect his political career? And which way will the PWF sway in a post-poll scenario? Vaiko answers these questions in a short interview.