Big blow to Stalin: Congress dumps DMK, ties up with Vijay's TVK for all elections

The Congress on Wednesday announced that its alliance with Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) will extend beyond government formation to future elections, including the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, effectively ending its long-standing ties with the DMK.

The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and the Congress Legislature Party have extended full support to TVK to form the government after the party fell short of a majority in the Assembly. Earlier today, Tamil Nadu Congress leaders also handed over a letter of support to Vijay at the TVK headquarters in Chennai.

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AICC Tamil Nadu in-charge Girish Chodankar said the arrangement would go beyond the immediate post-poll scenario. "This alliance - founded on mutual respect, appropriate share, and shared responsibility between the two parties is not only for the formation of this government, but also for future elections to the local body organisations, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha," he said.

He added that the support would come with conditions. "Our support shall be conditional upon the TVK keeping out from this alliance any communal forces that do not believe in the Constitution of India," Chodankar said, adding that the alliance aimed to revive "Perunthalaivar Kamaraj's glory days" with a commitment to "Thanthai Periyar's social justice ideals and Dr BR Ambedkar's constitutional ideals".

The decision followed an urgent late-night meeting of the party's Political Affairs Committee, convened by Chodankar, where senior leaders backed supporting the actor-turned-politician. The move was also discussed at a meeting of top Congress leaders at party chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi, attended by Rahul Gandhi and others.

"TVK President Thiru Vijay has requested the Indian National Congress for support to form a Government in Tamil Nadu," Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said. "The INC is clear that the mandate in Tamil Nadu is for a secular government that is committed to protecting the Constitution in letter and spirit. The INC is determined not to have the BJP and its proxies run the Government of Tamil Nadu in any manner," he said.

Vijay's TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly and needs the support of at least 10 MLAs to cross the majority mark. The Congress has five seats, while the PMK has four and the CPI and CPI(M) have two each.

The DMK, which had been in alliance with the Congress before the polls and won 59 seats, criticised the move. "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. I think they have backstabbed... They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu. They've backstabbed the mandate given by the people of Tamil Nadu," DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said.

(With inputs from PTI)