As efforts to form a government in Tamil Nadu gained momentum in Tamil Nadu – with Vijay bolstered by support from smaller parties – Zoho chief scientist Sridhar Vembu suggested that “a President’s rule with fresh elections may be the best way”.
In a post on social media platform X on Thursday, Vembu wrote, “The numbers don’t seem to add up. Whatever the government is cobbled together, it is likely to be unstable with various pushes and pushes. Tamil Nadu deserves better.”
The results of the Tamil Nadu assembly elections on 4 May caused a major upset as the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) emerged as the single largest party and Vijay was the giant killer who dismantled the decades-long Dravidian duopoly in the south Indian state.
As TVK registered a victory with 108 seats, it fell short of the majority mark by 10 seats. With the results clear on May 4, Vijay appears to be building support from smaller parties to form the government and be sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, acting chief minister and DMK chief MK Stalin conceded defeat and tendered his resignation to the governor on Tuesday.
Since then, the state has experienced rapid political development.
“Time for a fresh start for BJP in Tamil Nadu”
The Congress, which fought the elections in alliance with MP Stalin’s DMK, on Wednesday decided to leave the union and give “conditional” support to the TVK. Meanwhile, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) said it would not support TVK in its bid to form the government.
In his post, Vembu wrote, “I think TVK will come back with a super majority and if DMK-AIADMK wants to stop it, let them fight together. BJP should fight alone even if it leads to zero seats, time for a fresh start for BJP in TN.”
On Wednesday, Vijay met Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar at the Lok Bhavan as part of efforts to form the government. Sources told news agency ANI that TVK “does not have the official numbers yet” and apparently the governor is not yet convinced about the numbers.
Vijay won from Tiruchirapalli East and Perambur seats and is likely to retain the second constituency in Chennai. With Vijay stepping down from one of the two seats, TVK’s effective strength in the lineup will be 107.
“President’s rule with fresh elections may be the best course, this time with very strict enforcement of ‘no cash for votes’. Then we will see who has the real mandate,” Vembu wrote.
