‘Thalapathy’ Vijay is all set to be sworn in as the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after his debut political party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) secured crucial support from key political allies and crossed the required majority mark in the 234-member assembly.
The development comes after Vijay’s foray into acting Governor of Tamil Nadu Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at the Lok Bhavan where he formally staked his claim to form the government after consolidating cross-party support following a fractured mandate in the recently concluded council elections. The governor was not convinced by the numbers supporting Vijay in the previous two meetings.
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TVK, which emerged as the single largest party with 108 seats, fell short of the 118 majority required to form an independent government. However, with the support of the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), the party successfully crossed the majority threshold.
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Thalapathy Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) secured the crucial support of the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). This support helped TVK overcome the majority threshold of 118 seats in the 234-member assembly.
The Sarkaria Commission report states that if one party has an absolute majority, its leader should be asked to become the chief minister. If not, the governor should select the chief minister from the pre-election alliances, then the single largest party with support, and so on.
The Congress faced criticism from the DMK and other INDIA bloc partners for breaking its 55-year alliance with the DMK to support Vijay’s TVK. Critics called the move “short-sighted” and accused Congress of “failing” allies and being an “unstable partner”.
Yes, there have been instances of parties forming governments without a clear majority in states like Maharashtra and Karnataka and at the Centre. Governors have invited leaders to form governments with the expectation that they will prove their majority on the floor of the House.
The recent Tamil Nadu Assembly elections resulted in a fragmented mandate, with the TVK emerging as the single largest party but falling short of the majority of 118 seats needed to form a government independently.
The CPI, CPI(M) and VCK, which won 2 seats each, extended their support to the TVK, taking the party to a majority of 118 in the 234-member assembly, along with 5 seats from the Congress.
CPI state secretary Veerapandian said that the Left parties supported Vijay’s TVK in the form of 6 agreements as it is their “democratic duty”. “TVK is the single largest party. It needs 6 MLAs to form the government. We have given 6 MLAs to CPI, CPI(M) and VCK. We have extended our support; it is our democratic duty. This is people’s democracy. We will stand for democracy, we will stand with the people,” he told agencies.
Earlier, the CPI (M) in an official letter conveyed its “support” to the TVK to form the government in the state, while the CPI extended “conditional support” to the Vijay-led party in favor of a “stable, secular and democratic government for the people of Tamil Nadu”.
A broken mandate
Despite emerging as the single largest in the Assembly elections, TVK won a fragmented seat of 108, falling 10 seats short of clearing the majority mark of 118 in the 234-member assembly.
TVK president and actor Vijay contested in two constituencies and won both. He is expected to resign from Trichy and continue as MLA from Chennai Perambur constituency. With Vijay also stepping down from one of the two seats he won in the assembly polls, TVK’s effective strength in the assembly will be 117.
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Expanding its partnership with TVK and ending its age-long alliance with DMK, the Congress, with its 5 seats, took TVK’s tally to 112.
DMK-AIADMK rule ends
The Tamil Nadu election results, which were held in one phase on April 23, saw the historic emergence of a party led by actor-turned-politician Vijay, ending the three-decade-old DMK-AIADMK ‘duopoly’.
However, since independence, in every assembly election, one Congress, the DMK, or the AIADMK has won a clear majority and formed a government independently. For the first time in History of Tamil Naduno party achieved a majority of 118 seats. And it will be the first time in six decades that Tamil Nadu will field a non-DMK-not-AIADMK leader as its chief minister.
Vijay is MGR 2.0?
No wonder, while some were crushing on Thalapathy, others saw her form Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi Vijay’s political debut in it was nothing less than spectacular in state politics. Some have even compared him to former Tamil Nadu CM MG Ramachandran, who was as popular as MGR as an actor before becoming a politician. Others drew parallels with NT Rama Rao – the legendary actor-turned-politician Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister over seven years in four terms.
Time will now tell what Vijay’s tenure as chief minister means for Tamil Nadu.
Here’s the split of the parties as Vijay is scheduled to be sworn in tomorrow at 11 am in Chennai
Assembly in Tamil Nadu: 134
Vijay + others
TVK: 107 (excluding one of the two seats won by Vijay).
congress: 5
CPI: 2
CPIM:
IUML: 2
Final: 2
TOTAL Supporting Vijay: 120
TVK is the biggest party. It needs 6 MLAs to form the government. We have provided our support; it is our democratic duty.
