Four allies of MK Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) have extended support to ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay, ending the days-long standoff over government formation in Tamil Nadu. But only one ally – the Congress – drew the ire of Stalin and other INDIA bloc partners for supporting Vijay.
Soon after the 2026 Tamil Nadu election results showed a massive victory for Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the Congress quickly severed its 55-year-old ties with the DMK and joined forces with Vijay to help him form the state government. Despite the support of the Congress, Vijay fell short of the magic number of 118 five times.
Several others who criticized the Congress for the move included MK Stalin, Congress leader Mani Shanker Aiyer and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav.
People also ask
Artificial intelligence reinforced the insights from this story
•5 QUESTIONS
The INDIA bloc, especially the DMK, criticized the Congress for hastily severing ties with the DMK and supporting Vijay’s TVK without prior consultation. In contrast, allies like CPI and CPI(M) held discussions with MK Stalin before offering support.
The Sarkaria Commission Report (1983) suggests that if no single party has an absolute majority, the governor should invite the largest single party to form a government with the support of the others.
Vijay’s TVK has 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly. The majority required to form a government is 118 seats.
Despite the TVK emerging as the single largest party with 108 seats and securing the support of the Congress (5 MLAs), their total strength of 113 is still five seats short of the 118 seat mark.
Governors have previously called on parties to form governments without a clear majority, such as in Maharashtra (2019) and Karnataka (2018), where leaders were sworn in before proving their majority on the floor of the House.
Later, after much deliberation, the CPI and CPI(M) on Friday announced their “unconditional support” to the TVK. Several leaders claimed that the VCK is also ready to join the alliance and help Vijay cross the majority mark of 118 MLAs comfortably.
All three are allies of the DMK in Tamil Nadu, but no criticism has been leveled against them so far. why so?
One argument is that the Congress decided to walk away from the alliance with the DMK in a hasty manner without consulting or holding meetings with DMK chief MK Stalin.
However, CPI, CPIM and VCK held long discussions and even met Stalin before taking a major decision. CPI state secretary Veerapandian said at a press conference on Friday, “We have taken the decision in a democratic manner.”
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai launched a scathing attack on the Congress on Wednesday, calling the decision “short-sighted” and accusing them of “defeating” partners from INDIA.
“I think this is a very short-sighted, short-sighted attitude of the Congress, which they will regret… because of this decision of the Congress, it has made them a very unstable partner. There is a feeling across the country that the Congress cannot be trusted,” Annadurai said.
“Congress has offered its support to TVK and that’s why we called it a backstab…,” Annadurai said, adding that the reasons given by the party as the “opposite party” were not convincing.
“If the Congress is so untrustworthy, within a day of the results they are openly going against the mandate. What impact will it create in the minds of Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Uddhava Thackeray and all others? We have never failed the Congress,” added Annadurai.
Not only DMK leader, but Congress veteran Mani Shankar Aiyar also criticized the party’s alliance with TVK as “terrible”.
Aiyar told PTI that the Congress’s decision to jump ship immediately after the elections fought the DMK to delve into the relationship with TVK itself, which took us “in 23 assembly segments that we lost and five that we won just days ago” was “terrible”.
INDIA bloc divided again?
With the sudden shift of the Congress towards TVK, the rift in the INDIA alliance has once again appeared open.
Congress has been one of DMK’s longest alliance partners. On several occasions, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi shared a warm relationship with Stalin, hailing him as an “elder brother”.
Mani Shankar Aiyar in an interview to PTI even said, “How can Congress justify disappointing a partner who was the only one in the INDIA block to declare ‘brother’ Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister.”
In a move that signals the formal collapse of one of INDIA’s most stable pillars of the bloc, the DMK on Friday formally asked for a separate arrangement of seats in the Lok Sabha, distancing itself from its long-time ally, the Congress.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav launched a veiled attack on the Congress, saying “we are not the ones who leave in tough times”. Yadav also posted on X photos of his meeting with Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and with DMK chief MK Stalin.
“In politics the natural formation of alliances”
Amidst the criticism, Congress MP Jothimani justified the party’s split from TVK, stressing that in politics “making” and “breaking” alliances is “natural”.
In a detailed post on X, the Congress MP recalled a previous instance in 2014 when the DMK “expelled” the Congress from the alliance, after which it was forced to fight alone. She said the Congress did not criticize the DMK at the time and considered it a “political move”.
“In politics, the creation and breaking of alliances is completely natural. Even the DMK just a week before the announcement of the parliamentary elections in 2014 excluded the Congress party from the long-standing alliance. We were suddenly pushed into the competition alone. We did not criticize the DMK harshly for that. We understood it as a political stance,” said Jothimani.
