- Tamil Nadu Congress leader insists alliance partners must accept Rahul Gandhi as PM face for 2029
- Many TVK leaders projects Vijay for PM, challenging Congress’s stance within the alliance
- Congress MP Praveen Chakravarthy denies any rift, calls alliance coordination strong
The TVK versus Congress over PM face for 2029 for a fresh fillip on Wednesday with the senior Tamil Nadu Congress leader explicit, saying alliance partners must accept Rahul Gandhi as the PM face.
"Allies have to accept Rahul Gandhi as PM face. If not, what is the necessity to be in alliance?" Selvaperunthagai said, adding that the Congress should have an alliance only with parties that "openly and transparently" accept Rahul Gandhi as its PM face.
His remarks came against the backdrop of repeated statements from TVK leaders projecting Vijay beyond Tamil Nadu and pitching him for the top political post in the country in 2029. The issue has already been described as one of the first major tests for the newly formed alliance.
Congress Plays Down Alliance Differences
Congress MP Praveen Chakravarthy, however, sought to play down speculation of a rupture between the two parties.
Questioning the significance of Selvaperunthagai's remarks, Chakravarthy said, "Who is Selvaperunthagai now? He could have had any position before, that's not important now."
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He said there was "no confusion" within the TVK-Congress alliance and pointed to the recent coordination meeting at which the alliance's name was discussed and finalised.
"All is well. Our alliance is strong," Chakravarthy said, adding that he had met Rahul Gandhi and discussed Tamil Nadu politics with him.
The alliance was formally given the name Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance at a meeting in Chennai on September 9, with Vijay as its chairman. Congress leaders, including Tamil Nadu Congress chief B Manickam Tagore and Chakravarthy, attended the meeting.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also responded to the TVK's Vijay-for-PM pitch, arguing that individual parties can project their leaders but that the Prime Minister ultimately emerges from the parliamentary numbers after a Lok Sabha election.
"Every party will praise and have aspirations for their own leaders," Chidambaram said, but added that the Prime Minister would have to be the leader of a party or formation capable of commanding the support of a majority of MPs in the Lok Sabha.
He described this as the "political reality" of Indian parliamentary democracy and said regional parties expressing their "love and affection" for their leaders was not necessarily the same as the parliamentary arithmetic required to form a government.
