Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay on Wednesday met Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and staked claim to form the government in the state, two days after his party emerged as the single largest party. The governor gave Vijay 48 hours to prove his party's majority in the assembly.
Vijay is likely to take oath as Chief Minister on May 7, according to party sources. However, having won 108 seats in the 234-member assembly, TVK is short of a simple majority. To reach the 118 mark, Vijay has reached out to DMK allies Congress, VCK and the Left parties CPI and CPI(M).
The seat tally in Tamil Nadu is as follows: The DMK won 59, AIADMK 47, Congress 5, PMK 4, IUML 2, CPI 2, VCK 2, CPI-M 2. BJP, DMDK and AMMK won 1 seat each.
While the Congress party has publicly announced its support to TVK, other parties were yet to openly support Vijay's party when this article was published. Congress workers on Wednesday burst firecrackers at the party state headquarters Satyamurthi Bhavan here to welcome the announcement.
The DMK on Wednesday described its long-time ally Congress's move as a "backstab". DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said, "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu."
Meanwhile, Congress leader Karti Chidambaram said some sections within the party favoured an alliance with TVK even before the April 23 polls. "There were voices within the party that mooted an alliance with TVK before the elections. There is no doubt about that," PTI quoted Karti as saying.
Expressing its intention to support TVK government from outside, AIADMK leader Kovai Sathyan said the "ball is in Vijay's court" regarding potential cooperation between the two parties. "There is absolutely no question of the AIADMK splitting. Everyone is in common consensus, and the majority decision will be taken by the high command," he asserted.