Tamil Nadu Governor Not Convinced Vijay's TVK Has Majority, Oath Unlikely Tomorrow: Sources

TVK chief Vijay has staked claim to form the next government in Tamil Nadu in a meeting with Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar today. The governor is, however, not convinced Vijay's TVK has the number yet to form the government, sources said, explaining the formal position as of now though the Congress has promised support and others are also expected to join.  

His party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which emerged as the single-largest party after the assembly election, needed at least 10 seats to hit the majority mark of 118. With the Congress's five, the number rose to 112, excluding one of the two seats that Vijay won - leaving the TVK with a gap of six seats to fill till the finishing line. 

The next obvious step is for Vijay to prove his government's majority in the house.

There is no clarity yet on who all apart from the Congress, including independents, would come on board to be part of Team Vijay. The VCK, which won two seats, is holding internal discussions on what to do.

The DMK bagged 59 seats, AIADMK 47, PMK 4, IUML 2, CPI 2, CPI(M) 2, and the BJP, DMDK and AMMK a seat each.

The Left's four seats - two each from the Communist Party of India, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - are also not out of the equation, though both have asked for time till May 8 to take a call.

Despite all this, there's speculation of an alternate bloc - a TVK and AIADMK alliance that will be more than enough for Vijay's party to form the next government because the latter party has 47 seats. Of these, at least 30 are said to be interested in supporting the TVK.

Sources said TVK leaders are keen to see Vijay take oath tomorrow.

The Congress's Tamil Nadu unit was given full autonomy by the party's central leadership to take an independent call on whether the party should support the TVK. Tamil Nadu Congress in-charge Girish Chodankar had also announced they would rather support a "secular government" than see the BJP come to power in the southern state.

The Congress made the formal announcement to be a part of the government this morning, following which party workers broke into celebrations by bursting firecrackers at its Tamil Nadu headquarters. It said there's one condition for its support to the TVK - communal forces that do not believe in the Constitution should be kept out of the alliance.

The DMK said the Congress - with whom it had a formed a pre-election alliance and faced the election together - has "backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu" by deciding to support the TVK. DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said the Congress is "self-destructing" for the sake of two berths in the TVK cabinet.

The Congress's unilateral decision to support the TVK is a sign that the Opposition bloc INDIA has disintegrated. "There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, adding the development is the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc.

The TVK's massive win in the Tamil Nadu assembly election has brought a tectonic shift in the state's politics by breaking the DMK and AIADMK's traditional duopoly. MK Stalin, beaten by the TVK's VS Babu in Kolathur seat, has already resigned as the chief minister.