After Election Win, TVK At Centre Of Numbers Game. One Option Is AIADMK

For actor Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, the high of winning the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly election - and bringing the curtain down on Dravidian giants DMK and AIADMK's 62-year chokehold on the state - has faded away into backchannel talks over government formation.

The TVK is now busy putting together an alliance to take the party and its 108 seats (which will come down to 107 after Vijay resigns from Trichy East) past the current majority mark of 118.

And as part of that TVK General Secretary N Anand reportedly met AIADMK boss Edappadi K Palaniswami at his Chennai residence this morning. If confirmed, this meeting could expose rifts in the AIADMK, which contested this election as an ally of the BJP. Factions within the AIADMK are now believed to favour joining with the TVK.

What was discussed between the TVK leaders and EPS is unclear. Hedging options, sources suggested the former may have only met the latter to invite him to the swearing-in ceremony.

The party expects to have Vijay sworn in as the next Chief Minister by May 7. Preparations for a grand event are already underway at Chennai's Nehru Stadium, NDTV has been told.

At the top of the queue of parties eager to link up with the TVK is the Congress.

The national party - which has the distinction of being the last non-Tamil party to rule the state (this was back in 1962 when K Kamaraj led it to victory) - has offered its five seats, with some conditions attached. But that will not be enough for Vijay to stake claim to the government.

Sources told NDTV the TVK is also looking to regional parties, like the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, which has two seats and is part of the DMK-led alliance, and BJP ally Pattali Makkal Katchi, which has four seats. The Congress' five plus these six should be enough for the TVK.

Vijay reportedly favours working with these parties since it makes coordination easier.

The Left front's four seats - two each from the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - are also in play, though both have asked for time till May 8 to decide.

But there is an alternate bloc being lined up - a TVK + AIADMK alliance that will be more than enough for Vijay's party to form the next government because the latter party has 47 seats.

In the build-up to this election Vijay criticised the DMK and the BJP repeatedly, branding the former his 'political enemy' and the latter his 'ideological enemy'. And it did not go unnoticed that Vijay was noticeably softer on the AIADMK, often simply ignoring it in poll speeches.

In hindsight, the TVK boss may have been playing the long game, i.e., by not targeting it he did not give it reason to attack him too much and kept it on the fence for just such a turn of events.

Whatever the logic may have been, discord within the party over support has turned serious enough for EPS to cancel a meeting of newly-elected MLAs. The numbers - how many back joining the TVK and how many are unwilling to do so - are unclear, but reports indicate those who want to link up are happy to do so without setting pre-conditions, unlike the Congress.

Either way, the discord places EPS under even greater pressure as he struggles to hold the larger AIADMK together after yet another major election defeat.

The AIADMK has been struggling since iconic leader J Jayalalithaa's death in 2016. Held together by her unquestioned authority and charisma, the party has failed to win any election since she died. It also went through a bitter and public leadership spat, with EPS and his rival, O Panneerselvam, or OPS, who is now with the DMK, squabbling over control. Jayalalithaa's aide, VK Sasikala, was also in the mix till EPS and OPS joined hands to expel her from the party.