With Vijay’s C Joseph Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam emerging as the single largest party with 108 seats, just 10 short of the majority mark, rival camps moved swiftly behind the scenes to either support or block his path to power, according to an analysis by Times of India.
Senior S P Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam reportedly explored engineering defections within the AIADMK legislature party to back TVK without the knowledge of party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami. The effort allegedly aimed to bring over 33 MLAs, crossing the two-thirds threshold needed to avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law.
At the same time, Palaniswami himself was said to be in talks with Udhayanidhi Stalin over the possibility of a DMK-supported AIADMK government that could keep Vijay out of office. The proposal reportedly gained traction among sections of the DMK leadership, placing pressure on outgoing chief minister M K Stalin to consider cooperation with the AIADMK.
Resort politics at play
Between May 4 and May 6, Velumani and Shanmugam held discussions with senior TVK figures including Bussy Anand, Aadhav Arjuna and Vijay’s poll strategist John Arokiasamy. The AIADMK faction reportedly demanded one ministerial berth for every five MLAs and the post of deputy chief minister in return for support, according to ToI.
However, TVK reportedly turned cautious after Congress MLAs submitted letters of support at the party’s Panaiyur office on May 6. Talks resumed briefly on May 7, including a meeting between Bussy Anand, Vijay’s associate Vishnu Reddy and Velumani, before cooling again after the CPI and CPM publicly extended support to TVK.
Meanwhile, Palaniswami moved to contain rebellion within AIADMK by summoning newly elected MLAs to his camp office and preventing attempts to rally support for Vijay. Party deputy general secretary K P Munusamy later publicly declared that “AIADMK will not extend support to TVK under any circumstance”.In a move reminiscent of the Koovathur resort episode after former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s death, AIADMK MLAs were reportedly shifted to resorts in Puducherry and cut off from communication channels.
Left parties upset Dravidian calculations
Even as M K Stalin publicly maintained that the DMK preferred to function as a strong opposition, negotiations reportedly continued in the background to prevent TVK from taking office.
On May 7, Stalin met DMK MLAs and later held consultations with allies including CPI, CPM and VCK. During those discussions, he reportedly floated the idea of a DMK-backed AIADMK government and appealed to allies not to abruptly sever ties with the DMK alliance.
“He told the allies not to do anything without informing him. He said he would not stop them,” a leader from the alliance was quoted as saying.
However, the strategy failed to gather consensus. The Left parties showed little enthusiasm for the proposal and instead moved closer to TVK. CPI and CPM openly backed Vijay’s bid to form the government, while Thol Thirumavalavan maintained a wait-and-watch approach, saying a final decision would be announced on May 9.
Late on Friday night, TTV Dhinakaran separately met Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and demanded that Palaniswami be sworn in as chief minister.
In the end, competing attempts by Tamil Nadu’s two Dravidian heavyweights to either co-opt or contain Vijay failed to materialise, leaving the state’s fractured mandate hanging on smaller allies and last-minute negotiations.
(With inputs from ToI)
