Top News

Vijay Chandrashekhar Joseph’s entry in Tamil Nadu was as explosive as his films. In the very first election, his party, Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), did what even MG Ramachandran and M Karunanidhi could not do decades ago. Tamil Nadu’s biggest superstar Vijay is struggling for majority even after achieving such a big victory in politics. They have to make manipulations to get the support of each MLA. There are two big Dravidian parties in the state like All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), due to which Vijay’s political difficulties are not reducing.

Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam had contested this election on its own, alone. The party won 108 seats. This broke the decades-long hold of DMK and AIADMK. Vijay’s party TVK does not have the required 118 seats for majority. Vijay won by 2 seats, so he will have to give up one seat. In such a situation, TVK was left with only 107 MLAs for voting. The majority figure has now reached 117.

Congress gave support to TVK by forgetting DMK but still got into trouble

On the night of 5 May, Congress decided to support TVK. With the support of 5 Congress MLAs, Vijay’s tally reached 112-113 but he was still far away from the majority. Congress placed a condition that Vijay would not go with a party doing Hindutva politics like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Left and VCK also joined together

On 8 May, CPI and CPI(M) formally announced their support to TVK. Both the parties got 2-2 i.e. 4 MLAs. VCK is also getting ready to go with them. 2 MLAs of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) are also supporting. TVK has completed the majority mark with the support of Congress, Left and other small parties.

Will the Governor approve the formation of the government?

Vijay has not received an invitation from Governor Rajendra Arlekar to form the government. Vijay has met the Governor thrice. TVK claims that the swearing-in ceremony may take place at 11 am on Saturday, but official confirmation is yet to be received.

Why is this victory big?

This victory is special because Vijay had not made any alliance before the elections. He gave a big defeat to the old parties. To run the government, he needed the support of the same parties against whom he had opened a front. DMK is now in opposition and many of its allies have sided with Vijay. Congress has broken decades old friendship. Now the ball is in the court of the Governor, whether he invites Vijay to form the government or not.