The Congress on Wednesday announced that it would join hands with Vijay’s TVK to form the next government in Tamil Nadu, and that the alliance would be based on mutual respect, an appropriate share, and shared responsibility between the two parties.
The Congress, which is a major constituent of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, has won five seats in the April 23 Assembly election. The outgoing ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has won 59 seats while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has won 47 seats.
The TVK won 108, including the two constituencies - Perambur and Tiruchirappalli East contested by Vijay. In the 234-member Assembly, a party requires 118 seats to secure a majority. Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) with 108 seats has been falling short of 10 seats to reach the majority mark.
In a statement on X, Congress in-charge for Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar said, “The President of Tamizhaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), Thiru C. Vijay, has formally requested the Indian National Congress (INC) to extend its support for forming a government in Tamil Nadu.
The Congress stands for, and is the founding political party for, secular, progressive, and welfarist politics in India. Accordingly, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) have decided to extend their full support to the TVK to form the government,” the post said.
The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night.
"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," Congress general secretary K.C Venugopal said in a statement posted on X.
‘Falling apart like a pack of cards’
The BJP took a swipe at the Congress for breaking away from its long term ally DMK, saying the party has a history of "betraying" its allies.
The saffron party also attacked the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming the alliance is "falling apart like a pack of cards" and lacks any common ideology or vision.
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed the INDIA alliance had effectively come to an end after the declaration of assembly election results on May 4.
"There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," he wrote in a post on X.
Calling it the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc, Poonawalla, in a video post, said, "It has become a Bharat free of the DMK, TMC, and the Left, and now Congress has dumped the DMK for the TVK."
The BJP spokesperson alleged that the opposition bloc was formed solely out of political compulsions and personal ambitions.
"The INDI alliance never had any mission or vision. It was only about ambition for position, corruption, commission, and obsession against Modi ji that they came together. But now it is all falling apart like a pack of cards," he said.
Questioning the unity of the opposition parties, Poonawalla said the alliance was absent in several states during the election.
"Where was the INDI alliance in Bengal, in Kerala, in Gujarat, in Punjab, in Delhi, in Haryana, in Karnataka? There is no INDI alliance," he said.
Countering ‘backstabbing’ allegations, Jothimani, Congress MP from Karur, has termed this a ‘political stance’ that even DMK had resorted to in 2014, right before parliamentary elections, leaving Congress to contest alone.
“In politics, alliances forming and breaking is only natural. Even the DMK, just a week before announcing the 2014 parliamentary elections, expelled the Congress party from a long-standing alliance. We were suddenly pushed into contesting alone. For that, we didn't harshly criticise the DMK. We understood it as a political stance.
Now, the Congress party is compelled to take a political stance. Therefore, it's best for us to part ways from the alliance with mutual respect. We must avoid using harsh words on both sides,” she posted on her X, adding, “Likewise, we don't expect a certificate of good conduct for our leader Rahul Gandhi from anyone. The nation knows that he is the only leader with the strength to uncompromisingly oppose and bring down the BJP's fascist rule in this country.”