Actor Vijay's TVK is a force to reckon with, and the Tamil Nadu elections of 2026 is shaping up to be a tough three-way fight, senior Congress leader and four-time Member of parliament Manickam Tagore admitted to NDTV in an exclusive interview. This is the first public admission of the sort - the state's ruling alliance has so far given the impression that they consider the TVK or Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam is a fringe player.
Right now, the presence of Vijay is more of a threat to the AIADMK, Mr Tagore said, because the actor-politician is rapidly taking up the space of the Opposition party.
"The hypothetical questions about the TVK, which has been formed by Vijay, I think that TVK is taking the space of the opposition," Mr Tagore told NDTV.
The AIADMK is fumbling because of BJP's remote controlling its leadership. Also the party cosying up to the BJP is not something its voters would accept, he added.
If the trend does not change, the next year's fight will be between the INDIA Alliance and the TVK, because "the AIADMK and the BJP are "losing out badly in the perception battle", he said.
On the upside - for the Congress at least - is the possibility that Vijay's presence will give the Grand Old Party more leverage to negotiate in a state where they stopped holding all the cards a decade ago.
While the Congress has "always sacrificed" for coalition and alliance interests, the party, Mr Tagore hinted, will seek a larger number of seats than the 25 in 2026.
"In 2006, we fought 48 (seats). Then in 2011, we increased our tally to 63. In 2016, we came down to 41. And 21, we accepted 25 seats. And we won. Our strike rate was a very good strike rate," he said.
Then he added, "It is too early now to speak about a number... Congress workers in the ground always expects a good number".
The seat negotiations, he added, would take place in January-February.
