Vijay's 'Bigg Boss' moment: Keeping the TVK flock together

The honeymoon appears to be over for the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), and Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay finds himself confronting an uncomfortable situation in keeping the flock together. 

Six months after taking office,TVK on Wednesday convened its first MLAs meeting on an emergency, against the backdrop of allegations of misconduct involving two of its elected representatives. What was initially expected to be a meeting at the party headquarters in Panaiyur took a curious turn, with the venue shifting to a private resort in Mahabalipuram. Security was tightened around the premises, and police imposed restrictions on drone movements in parts of Chengalpattu district. Large corrugated iron sheets and metal panels along the top of the resort's compound wall, were put up hurriedly to block outside visibility and enhance physical protection, adding speculation over the reason for the meeting.

The change of venue at a politically sensitive moment and the barricading of the resort premises only added to the intrigue surrounding the meeting. Of course, this was no routine legislature party gathering. Vijay was expected to deliver a stern message on discipline, public behaviour and the responsibility that comes with occupying public office. “This is only a routine meeting as our leader wanted to meet us. There was no specific agenda,” one of the MLAs told THE WEEK on conditions of anonymity.

Incidentally, the immediate provocation for the TVK MLAs meeting was the controversy involving Assembly Deputy Speaker and Thuraiyur MLA M. Ravisankar. A video purportedly showing him assaulting Karthik Kumar, a local resident who had approached him with complaints about drinking water shortages and garbage disposal, triggered widespread criticism. The controversy deepened when Kumar appeared in a subsequent video alongside the MLA, suggesting that the incident had been misrepresented. He later alleged that he was threatened and forced to record the clarification.

The other embarrassment came up as Kallakurichi MLA C. Arul Vignesh, allegedly sent inappropriate WhatsApp messages to the district collector. While Arul Vignesh denied the allegations, dismissing them as rumours, the controversy has raised uncomfortable questions about the conduct of elected representatives towards government officials.

However, sources informed THE WEEK that the TVK leadership initially planned to ensure that the legislators are made to stay back in the resort for the next three days, as there were speculations over plans to topple the government by the opposition. The TVK leadership also believed that few of the TVK legislators were being persuaded by the opposition to submit resignations. But when the news about TVK’s idea to hold the legislators for the next three days began spreading in the social media, the plan changed. Tamil social media on Wednesday called the Mamallapuram resort meeting as “Koovathur 2.0” referring to the time when the AIADMK MLAs were held inside a resort in Koovathur in 2016, soon after the death of Jayalalithaa.

One-on-one meeting

For nearly three hours, Joseph Vijay played host, mentor and political watchman to his legislators at a luxury resort in Mahabalipuram. The individual meetings were brief, but the message was unmistakable: Stay loyal, resist inducements and do not become instruments in any attempt to bring down the government. The meeting, ostensibly convened to address controversies involving two TVK legislators, had a much larger political purpose. Vijay was worried about the survival of his six-month-old government.

Sources also say that Vijay identified the DMK as the principal political rival and cautioned the MLAs against falling into what he described as “opposition traps.” According to legislators who attended the meeting, Vijay met most of them individually, spending barely a minute or two with each. One of the legislators, while speaking to THE WEEK, compared the experience to entering the confession room, to meet Vijay, of the reality show, Bigg Boss, with everyone feeling that they were being watched. The comparison was particularly telling coming from a party whose leader built his political career in cinema. He says that the party leadership assured him about his political future and asked him not to fall prey for the opposition traps.

The anxiety centred on November 13, exactly six months after Vijay won the confidence vote in the Assembly on May 13. Legislators were reportedly cautioned that the opposition could attempt another no-confidence motion after the six-month mark.

Later, he met 10 MLAs in a batch and gave assurances of political future to them. This came as the TVK leadership received specific intelligence reports of a few legislators being poached by the opposition parties with an idea of toppling the government. “He warned most of us. But he also attempted to instil confidence and reinforce loyalty amongst us,” one of the MLAs told THE WEEK.

The warning has a context. TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member assembly, falling short of the 118 required for a simple majority. Vijay secured the government's survival with the support of the Congress, Left parties and smaller parties, besides 25 AIADMK legislators. The confidence motion was passed 144-22, with the DMK staging a walkout. Since then, allegations of horse trading have clouded the political atmosphere. Six AIADMK legislators resigned and joined TVK, triggering accusations of inducements. Two subsequently won by-elections on TVK tickets. More recently, TVK minister C.T. R. Nirmal Kumar alleged that intermediaries linked to the DMK had offered legislators between ₹60 crore and ₹70 crore to switch sides. These allegations have not been independently verified. The DMK has, in turn, accused TVK of using inducements to engineer defections from the AIADMK.

For Vijay, the challenge is not merely to reprimand a few errant legislators or ask them to behave. It is to establish an institutional culture in a relatively young party where several elected representatives are still learning the difference between political influence and public responsibility.

And more than that he has to keep together a coalition dependent government while preventing his fledgling party from becoming vulnerable to political manoeuvres. The superstar may have won the Assembly election on the strength of his popularity. But keeping the government intact will require something beyond star power: political management, loyalty and a firm grip over his legislators.