Government formation in Tamil Nadu seemed headed for further delay on Thursday with the governor insistent that TVK leader Joseph Vijay was yet to establish he had majority support.

Vijay’s party has 108 MLAs in a House of 234 and enjoys the official support of the 5 Congress MLAs, leaving him just 5 short of the majority mark of 118.

Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, however, remained unrelenting at his meeting with the actor turned politician on Thursday — their second in two days — despite Vijay’s assurances that support from other parties was in the offing.

While Vijay is taking legal advice — although a court battle would only take more time — several senior lawyers said constitutional and legal provisions mandate a governor to invite the leader of the single largest party to form the government.

They underscored that no other formation — neither the DMK-led alliance (73 seats) nor the AIADMK coalition (53 seats) that includes the BJP — has staked claim.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer and MP Kapil Sibal accused the governor of trying to “buy time” for the BJP by delaying the government formation.

Some other senior lawyers, though, pointed to the
“discretionary powers” a governor enjoys under the Constitution.

Vijay and other senior TVK functionaries have resumed efforts to persuade the CPI, CPM and the Dalit party VCK — all of which contested the polls as DMK allies like the Congress — to support their party and help it reach majority.

The CPI, CPM and the Dalit party VCK — these three parties have two MLAs each, and are expected to decide on the TVK’s plea by Friday.

On Thursday, Vijay’s party also reached out to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which too has two MLAs and is part of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA). IUML leader Khadar Mohideen, however, said his party could only go by the alliance leader’s decisions.

State leaders of the CPI, CPM and the VCK too had a brief meeting with DMK president M.K. Stalin. The outgoing chief minister is learnt to have told them he wished to keep the alliance intact, particularly after the Congress had quit the SPA on Wednesday to back Vijay.

Stalin also made it clear that the DMK would sit in the Opposition and had no intention of raising hurdles before the TVK’s efforts to form the government.

The Congress and the DMK remain part of the INDIA bloc at the national level, as do the other SPA constituents.

Referring to Thursday’s meeting between Arlekar and Vijay, a governor’s house release said: “During the meeting, the Hon’ble Governor explained that the requisite majority support in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, essential for forming the Government, has not been established.”

Sibal told the media in Delhi that “to ask for a majority is not in the governor’s domain”.

He said the legal and constitutional position was that the governor swear in the leader of the single largest party and give him or her sufficient time to prove their majority on the floor of the House.

Sibal cited the Supreme Court judgment in the Bommai case and the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission in support of his argument.

“This governor wants to buy time so that the BJP can manipulate and not allow the TVK to form the government,” he alleged.

In Chennai, DMK sources dismissed speculation about the party offering support to the AIADMK to enable the traditional rival and BJP ally to form the government. They said the DMK respected the people’s mandate.

AIADMK leader C.V. Shanmugam has resigned from his Rajya Sabha seat, he told reporters on Thursday.