Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlikar on Saturday called on Joseph Vijay to form the state government after he delivered letters of support from a host of parties that helped his Tamil Nadu Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) party cross the majority mark in the assembly, bringing the curtain down on the drawn-out government formation saga and ushering in a new political era for the district.
The actor-turned-politician will take oath at 10 am on Sunday and become the first chief minister not to hail from either of the two major Dravidian communities since the formation of Tamil Nadu in 1967.
Vijay has now received the support of 120 MLAs in the 234-member Assembly, crossing the 118-seat majority mark after the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), with two legislators each, extended TVK their “unconditional support” on Saturday.
“Theru C Joseph Vijay called the Governor of Tamil Nadu today at Lok Bhavan and submitted a letter informing him of his election as leader of the Tamil Nadu Legislature Party Vetri Kazhagam,” Lok Bhavan said in a statement.
According to the letter submitted to the Governor, TVK also has the support of Congress (five MLAs), Communist Party of India (two) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (two).
“The Governor has directed the Prime Minister-designate to seek the confidence of the Assembly on or before May 13, 2026. The oath-taking ceremony will be held at Nehru Stadium, Chennai, on May 10, 2026, at 10 am,” the statement added.
To be sure, the CPI, CPI(M), IUML and VCK have decided to support TVK, but they will not be part of the alliance.
Saturday’s announcement ended days of uncertainty, with no party emerging with a clear majority.
The 51-year-old’s meeting with Arlikar on Saturday was his fourth in as many days. The Tamil Nadu governor rejected Vijay’s invitation to form the government after the previous three meetings, not convinced he had the numbers.
Vijay’s nascent group won 108 seats in the Assembly elections. However, Vijay himself contested and won two seats. He must now resign one seat within 14 days of the election result being announced, effectively reducing his party’s strength to 107 seats.
He has spent the past four days trying to garner support from a range of opposition parties in the state.
The Congress broke its years-long alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and extended support to Vijay’s party on Tuesday.
Vijay’s rising party broke the 50-year-old Dravidian monopoly to emerge as the single largest party in the Assembly elections on Monday. But since then, the state has been embroiled in a government formation drama that has sparked speculation that the two Dravidian rivals – the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which won 59 seats, and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which won 47 seats – may come together.
Vijay and senior party functionaries — veteran politician K A Sengottaiyan and general secretary Aadhav Arjuna — arrived at Lok Bhavan around 6:30 pm on Saturday and held discussions for over an hour.
The meeting was attended by leaders of the alliance party, including Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K Selvapirunthagai, Communist Party of India (CPI) Tamil Nadu secretary M Veerapandian, Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary K Shanmugam and legislators of the International Federation of Communist Party of India – Syed Farooq Pasha and AM Shahjahan.
According to people familiar with the matter, TVK’s Sengottaiyan, CTR Nirmal Kumar, N Anand, KG Arunraj, Aadhav Arjuna and Rajmohan are likely to get ministerial posts. A Tamil Nadu Congress Committee official said it was also possible that a Congress legislator could be part of the government.
Earlier, VCK president Thul Thirumavalavan said his party supports TVK to prevent President’s rule in Tamil Nadu. The party is part of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in the state.
“Our relations with the DMK will not be affected due to our stand, but it will help Vijay in forming the government and also prevent President’s rule in the state,” Thirumavalavan told a press conference.
The International Trade Union Confederation (IUML), which is also an SPA member, had said earlier this week that it would not support TVK. However, the party’s national president Khizr Mohiuddin said on Saturday: “The feeling and expectation of the common people in Tamil Nadu is that the government should be formed through democratic means.”
Outgoing Prime Minister M K Stalin welcomed TVK’s formation of the government, saying the parties’ support averted a “critical crisis” in the state.
“For me, whatever decision was taken by the allied parties, I intended to respect their decision, work for integration and ensure the formation of a stable government. My thinking was that we should not pave the way for another election,” Stalin said in a statement on social media.
This suspense kept TVK in limbo for days, even amid the ever-shifting maelstrom of alliances.
Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) chief TTV Dhinakaran on Saturday accused TVK of “engaging in horse trading” by using a “forged” letter of support to demand formation of the government, which Vijay’s party denied. AMMK has one MLA in the house.
But by Saturday evening, Vijay had done enough to follow up what represents the southern state’s most impressive debut since Tamil talisman MJ Ramachandran in 1977.
