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NEW DELHI: Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay on Wednesday met Tamil Nadu governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to stake claim to form the next government after his two-year-old party emerged as the single largest in the recent assembly elections. In its electoral debut, TVK secured 108 of the 234 assembly seats. The two Dravidian majors—Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)—won 59 and 47 seats respectively. The DMK was voted out of power just five years after the AIADMK’s defeat. Earlier, Arlekar confirmed he would meet Vijay after the actor-turned-politician claimed he had the numbers required to form the government. “I have received a letter from TVK. They will meet me in the evening. They have stated that they have the majority and should be called to form the government. Yes, I have given an appointment to TVK chief Vijay. A new government will be formed now,” the governor told ANI. After falling short of the majority mark of 118, TVK had sought Congress’ support to form the government. Earlier in the day, Tamil Nadu Congress president K Selvaperunthagai and state in-charge Girish Chodankar met Vijay at TVK’s headquarters in Chennai to confirm support.
Despite Cong support, TVK still 5 seats short of majority: How will Vijay close the number gap?
However, with Congress securing only five seats, the alliance still falls five short of the majority mark. In a bid to bridge the gap, TVK has also approached AIADMK general secretary and former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. Congress had contested the April 9 assembly elections in alliance with the DMK, while the AIADMK was the largest constituent of the NDA, which also included the BJP. Reacting to the development, DMK leader Saravanan Annadurai criticised Congress, calling the move “myopic” and accusing it of betraying INDIA bloc partners. “I think this is a very short-sighted, myopic stand taken by the Congress, which they will regret. The 2029 general elections are coming, and we are confident of defeating the BJP. But this decision makes Congress an unstable partner. The perception across the country is that Congress cannot be trusted,” Sarvanan said.
