Resort politics gains centre stage: 108 TVK MLAs camp at luxury hotel amid govt formation parleys

As hectic parleys are on in Tamil Nadu over Vijay forming the government, 108 MLAs of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) who won in the recently conducted assembly election have been lodged at a private luxury resort in Mamallapuram on Wednesday. More than 50 MLAs are lodged at the Four Points Star hotel in Poonjeri, and others are expected to arrive throughout the day, news agency ANI reported. 

Vijay is likely to visit the Lok Bhavan today to meet Tamil Nadu governor Rajendra Arlekar to stake a claim to form the government.

As resort politics gains centre stage in Tamil Nadu, the Congress has unanimously decided to support the TVK for government formation after the party fell 10 seats short of a simple majority. 

Commenting on the Congress alliance with TVK, Congress MP Manickam Tagore said, "We were part of the DMK alliance, but people rejected the ruling government and those who said power-sharing in government is not possible."

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After its long-time ally left it, the DMK accused Congress of "backstabbing" soon after the results were out. 

DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai told ANI, "We wish good luck to Vijay when he takes oath on 7th May. Congress has offered its support to the TVK, and that is why we called it backstabbing... The Congress has decided to flip sides and support the TVK, and the reasons cited by them are not convincing. They say they want to keep the BJP and the RSS at bay, and that is why this call should be made." 

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Calling it "a full-hearted decision by the Congress," he said that this can further dent the credibility of the INDI alliance. Annadurai added, "If Congress is going to be so untrustworthy, just within a day of the results, they are openly going against the mandate. What impact will it create in the minds of Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray and all the others? We have never failed the Congress."

Besides this, long-time NDA ally AIADMK is considering extending support to Vijay for government formation. 

AIADMK MLA-elect from Lalgudi Leemarose Martin told PTI that the party's general secretary Edappadi Palanisami and Vijay are in talks over the same. Furthermore, the AIADMK faction led by Rajya Sabha MP CV Shanmugam is rallying support among MLAs to back TVK. 

Since the TVK leader contested from 2 constituencies — Perambur and Tiruchirappalli East — in his debut election, he will have to resign from one of these seats. If Vijay does so, the TVK's total tally will come down to 107. As per media reports, he is likely to surrender Tiruchirappalli East. 

The governor is likely to give Vijay two options: summon him and instruct him to demonstrate his majority on the floor of the state assembly, and/or ask Vijay to gather letters of support from "allied" partners and submit them to him.