In 2015, nearly a full year ahead of the state assembly polls, the VCK co-founded the Makkal Nala Kūttani (PWF; People's Welfare Front), a motley alliance of the communist parties (CPI[M] and CPI) and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK; Renaissance Dravidian Progressive Federation) led by ex-DMK firebrand Vaiko. From the start, the PWF billed itself as “a policy-based alternative” to Dravidian coalitions. Moreover, PWF leaders critiqued the conventional model of coalition politics in Tamil Nadu, where Dravidian parties formed coalitions with allied parties to face the polls and then proceeded to keep their allies at arm's length once the next administration was formed. In an evident departure, the PWF demanded pre-poll guarantees for a share (pangu) of political power as a precondition for its support. Censuring the uninterrupted reign of Dravidian parties in the state, VCK organizers panned Dravidian rule as oru katci ātchi, or single-party rule, which they alleged amounted to edēccādikāram (despotism). In contrast, the PWF advanced a pioneering demand for “coalition government.” Touting a broad-based platform of popular issues, PWF leaders traversed the state and conducted public rallies that addressed the rights of unorganized workers, regularization of labor contracts in the public sector, and a wide breadth of other topics including education, police reform, healthcare, and environmental conservation. As the polls drew near, VCK leaders reverted to an old playbook and ramped up a caustic critique of their Dravidian rivals.

Initially, the DMK and the AIADMK were largely unphased, auguring that these “opportunists” would almost certainly “disintegrate” before the next election, chalking up the coalition to a publicity stunt before the polls. They predicted that its leaders would invariably come groveling back seeking an alliance with a Dravidian patron in the coming months. Then, as elections drew near, the PWF released a “Common Minimum Program”—a shared political agenda that represented a consensus among its members and would act as a policy blueprint for coalition governance. According to preliminary media reports, the public response was initially positive and, as 2015 rounded into 2016, prominent outlets aired footage of massive PWF rallies across the state.