After the Congress extended its support to actor-turned-politician Vijay and his Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) party to form the government in Tamil Nadu, an unexpected player has entered the picture: the BJP’s NDA ally AIADMK.
TVK, which bagged 108 members in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly and is just 10 away from the median majority mark of 118 seats, is likely to ally itself with smaller parties like the Congress and the Left Front. She has already rejected the idea of an alliance with the BJP, which Vijay described as an “ideological enemy”.
“The party has to take a decision,” said AIADMK leader CV Shanmugam, while speaking to reporters as AIADMK MLAs arrived at his residence in Chennai, amid the din of “talks” between party general secretary Edapaddi K Palaniswami and TVK chief Vijay.
Reports indicate the existence of a faction within The AIADMK is inclined to support Vijay and his party. Some reports also indicated that the MLAs who want to ally with TVK are not very happy with Edappaddi Palaniswami’s leadership.
Party spokesperson Kovai Satyan confirmed that there was “momentum” within the AIADMK and TVK, while denying rumors of a “rift” or “split” within the party. Sathyan stated that the party high command will decide to ally with TVK.
“Some momentum between the two camps, between AIADMK and TVK. The high command will take a decision, so there is some momentum that has started since last night. So let’s wait for the time; as of now, it’s too early to talk about numbers. There is some momentum, so let’s wait for the result. The high command will take the final decision. Certainly, there is no difference of opinion; the decision of the high command is final and the high command will take a decision very soon. There is no issue of that. Certainly, there is no internal division or split in the AIADMK and it will be taken,” he said. “The senior leadership will make a decision very soon.”
Elaborating on who will make efforts to form an alliance, Sathyan stressed, “The ball is in Mr. Vijay’s court. The high command will take the majority decision. If he has to make the dream a reality, it will have to come from Mr. Vijay’s side.”
Congress, with its five multilateral agreements, It has already extended support to TVK for a “secular government” in Tamil Nadu. Now, Vijay has received the support of 113 MLAs and is just five away from the majority mark. The TVK chief also requested time from Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlikar to meet him as part of the government formation process.
Friction in the Congress-DMK alliance
Tensions rose within the secular Progressive Alliance The DMK described the Congress as a “stab in the back”, amid speculation that the grand old party was supporting TVK in Tamil Nadu.
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai On Wednesday, he launched a scathing attack on Congress, calling the decision “short-sighted” and accusing them of stabbing India’s alliance partners in the back.
“I think this is a very short-sighted and short-sighted stance taken by the Congress, which they will regret. The big elections of 2029 are coming, where we were very confident that we would be able to unseat the BJP. But now, because of this decision taken by the Congress, it has made them a very unstable partner. The perception in the entire country is that the Congress cannot be trusted,” he said.
The emergence of a new party will not only break the DMK-AIADMK duopoly but the formation of the government will likely lead to a profound shift in voters’ sentiments. How will the formation of Tamil Nadu government affect national politics? Many things remain to be seen.
