New Delhi: With Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu all set to take place later this year, a section of Congress leaders is backing an alliance with the actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) over the party’s long-trusted ally, DMK.
Many senior leaders including former Union Minister P. Chidambaram and Manickam Tagore have backed continuing with the party’s ally DMK in the state as they express hope that it will return to power in the elections later this year.
According to sources, the Congress, which has remained in alliance with Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s DMK in the southern state for long, has seen many party leaders favouring a new alliance following the emergence of Vijay’s party. The source claims that TVK is a better option for the Congress, as the latter would be rewarded more if the alliance formed government in the state. The source further claims that TVK’s vote share could be around 20%, a significant figure for a party making its poll debut.
Explaining the rationale behind backing TVK, the source says that if the Congress goes ahead with Vijay’s party in the Assembly elections, it could secure more seats to contest from and also gain a share in the state government, including cabinet berths. The source also suggests that an alliance with TVK could help increase Congress’ vote share, which currently stands at around 4%. Another reason cited is that such an alliance could consolidate anti-incumbency votes and limit the Bharatiya Janata Party’s political space in the state.
Talks of parting ways with the DMK began after Congress leader Praveen Chakravarty met Vijay on December 5, just two days after state in-charge Girish Chodankar and the state president, along with other leaders, met Stalin in Chennai on December 3 last year. Chakravarty, in a post on X, had said that Tamil Nadu’s outstanding debt was higher than that of Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Chidambaram, who met Stalin a few days later, said he disagreed with his colleague and All India Professional Congress chief Chakravarty’s claims that Tamil Nadu’s outstanding debt was now higher than Uttar Pradesh’s, calling the assertion “alarming”.
Chakravarty’s post on Tamil Nadu’s debt created ripples within the DMK alliance, with constituents demanding Rahul Gandhi’s intervention to preserve the alliance. DMK leaders feel that since Rahul Gandhi refers to Stalin as his brother, sections of Congress leaders taking jibes at the DMK government is unacceptable and amounts to backstabbing its oldest ally.
Responding to the controversy triggered by Chakravarty’s tweet, Congress leader Manickam Tagore, who is close to Rahul Gandhi, asked alliance partners not to “meddle” in the party’s internal affairs, triggering a war of words among the leaders. Even Tamil Nadu Congress president K. Selvaperunthagai expressed concern over the party speaking in different voices regarding the alliance in the state.
Sources also maintained that the Congress has asked the DMK, its principal ally in Tamil Nadu, for 38 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections and three cabinet berths if it wins the 2026 elections. However, the Congress central leadership believes the party should stay with its traditional allies, indicating a clear difference between national and state-level views. The debate has intensified as the party continues to remain out of power in Tamil Nadu for nearly 58 years.
The source also indicated that in the coming days, a meeting between Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, P. Chidambaram and M.K. Stalin will be held to finalise the alliance and seat-sharing formula. Congress had constituted a negotiation committee on November 22 last year after an emissary of DMK president M.K. Stalin met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly elections are expected to be held in April-May 2026 to elect all 234 members of the Legislative Assembly. The current Assembly’s tenure is scheduled to end on May 10, 2026.
