Tamil Nadu Government Formation Live Updates: The rise of actor-politician Vijay and his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), could trigger what has long been seen as unthinkable in Tamil Nadu politics, a possible alliance between Dravidian rivals DMK and AIADMK to prevent him from coming to power.
Sources told NDTV that a section within the DMK, led by Udhayanidhi Stalin, fears Vijay could recreate the political dominance once enjoyed by former AIADMK chief and iconic Chief Minister MG Ramachandran (MGR), who never allowed the DMK to return to power during his tenure.
The developments come after Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar once again declined TVK chief Vijay’s request to form the government, citing the party’s failure to establish majority support in the Assembly.
In response, TVK argued that there have been several precedents where the single largest party was invited to form the government despite lacking a clear majority at the time. The party maintained that it was confident of proving its strength on the floor of the House.
With TVK still short of the majority mark by five seats, focus has now shifted to smaller parties such as CPI, CPI(M) and VCK. Leaders of the three parties met DMK chief MK Stalin to discuss the evolving political situation.
The Assembly election resulted in a hung verdict, with TVK winning 108 seats in the 234 member House. The DMK secured 59 seats, AIADMK 47, PMK 4, IUML 2, CPI 2 and CPI(M) 2, while BJP, DMDK and AMMK won one seat each. Congress later extended support to TVK, but the party still remains short of the numbers needed to form the government.
