The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and its leader C. Joseph Vijay, who was sworn in as Chief Minister on Sunday along with nine ministers from the party, have taken the shortest and most direct route to power. After falling 10 seats short of the 118-seat mark, the TVK secured the support of four ideologically aligned parties – the Congress (five MLAs), the CPI(M), the CPI and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi or VCK (two each) – with two IUML MLAs soon lining up for the Congress and the VCK, which sought to form the 121st ideological partners; that it has now got support from them and from the Left and the IUML, even though they fought under the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led coalition, is therefore out of place. The alternative proposed by AIADMK leaders and supported by some DMK leaders – an AIADMK government supported by the DMK – would be an immoral exercise. In any case, outgoing Chief Minister MK Stalin was against such a farcical turn. Meanwhile, when Governor Rajendra Arlekar demanded written proof of the support of 118 MLAs before inviting TVK, the single largest party, to form the government, he ignored the Sarkaria Commission framework – which favors the single largest party with external support next to an alliance over a vote – and the Supreme Court’s Rameshwar6 decision, which the ministry can only test at the 20 level.
The Congress opportunistically accepted the offer, pledging support to the TVK and committing to an alliance for local, assembly and parliamentary elections. That it would so casually threaten the decades-old alliance with the DMK is not surprising. The party opposed the 2026 election as a semi-heel, divided at the top, and this ambivalence was reflected in its results: in the 28 seats it contested, it won just 28% of the vote – the second-lowest share of the DMK-led coalition; only latecomer DMDK fared worse. It was also short-sighted, given that this alliance helped the INDIA bloc win all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu in 2024. The Left and VCK extended support to TVK while citing the need for a stable government and reiterating their partnership with DMK against communal forces. The election brought Tamil Nadu’s first hung verdict in decades and the response was a test of constitutional propriety and political character. Despite the avoidable delay, the TVK-led government eventually took over. It is now Mr. Vijay’s duty to build on the foundations laid by the Dravidian governments, under whose leadership Tamil Nadu became one of the pioneers of the Indian economy by prioritizing industrial development and socio-economic equity.
Published – 11 May 2026 0:20 AM IST
