Amid some reports that C Joseph Vijay’s TVK party was planning to move the court to get the governor’s green signal to form the new Tamil Nadu government, the actor-turned-politician may finally get the magic number – 118 – in the 234-member House, as of Friday evening, May 8.
Vijay also met Governor RV Arlikar again on the issue of forming the government for the third time in three days, but it is not yet clear whether he has received the official invitation.
What is disruption?
The Tamil Nadu Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) ended with 108 seats and became the single largest party, but fell 10 seats short of the majority mark, in the poll results held on May 4.
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However, it is now certain that Vijay will soon be sworn in as the next chief minister as he now appears to have 118, perhaps even 120, MLAs on his side, after the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) also backed TVK with two MLAs on Friday, ahead of the meeting with Arlekar.
TVK has the support of Congress through its five MLAs. In addition to two left-wing parties, each with two seats, meaning four of them. It is learned that the VCK, with two seats, has not officially announced its support but is set to support Vijay.
These parties were all allies of the incumbent DMK, but have since openly supported TVK in order to “keep communal forces out”, referring to the AIADMK-BJP alliance.
Math finally works?
- Thus the total TVK is 108, five for Congress; The number VCK, CPI and CPI(M) with six together, plus two IUML – may rise to 121.
- Since Vijay, known as Thalapathi or ‘Leader’ among his fans, has won two seats and has to vacate one of them, the number will be 120.
- If the VCK has not yet been officially calculated, the number will reach the desired 118 anyway.
- The Consumer Price Index (CPI) and CPI(M) have already extended official support to Vijay, while the VCK will announce its decision on Saturday. Vijay also visited the CPI state headquarters to thank the leaders for their support.
Delay governor “strange situation”
The ruling CPI(M) criticized Arlikar for not inviting the single largest party to form the government. The party’s Secretary General, Dr. “The Governor must adhere to the established practices and conventions of our multi-party parliamentary democracy. He must invite the single largest party and allow that party to form the government. We have made it quite clear. It is in the interest of Tamil Nadu, to have a stable secular government, our party has decided to extend support to Mr. Vijay, the TVK leader,” Raja said on Friday.
Congress MP Gibby Mather supported Dr Raja’s view and called it a “standard process” for the governor to invite the party with the highest number of MLAs to form the government.
She further claimed that there was a “hidden agenda” behind the delay. “It is a strange situation, as it seems that despite these large numbers and a clear mandate, there is an agenda behind these delays,” she said.
She also asserted that the DMK and Congress share a “strong bond”.
The DMK did not take kindly to the Congress breaking ranks to support Vijay.
“Everyone should understand that if this (delay) is an attempt to push the BJP’s agenda, when the BJP holds only one seat…the appropriate course of action is to respect the people’s mandate and allow the process to move forward by giving a chance to TVK. While Congress and DMK share a strong bond, DMK must also realize that preventing non-secular forces from joining hands is the need of the hour,” he said.
