Chennai: TVK founder-chief Chandrasekar Joseph Vijay was appointed as Chief Minister on Saturday by the Governor and will be sworn in on May 10, after his party clinched key support to cross the magic 118 majority mark in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, ending days of uncertainty over government formation in the southern state.
A top-rated actor-politician, the 51-year-old Vijay will be sworn in as the CM at the sprawling Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here at 10 AM on Sunday, the Lok Bhavan said.
Capping days of hectic parleying to shore up numbers to usher in the first non-DMK, non-AIADMK government in nearly 70 years, Vijay finally managed to secure the support of four MLAs of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on Saturday. Later, he headed to the Lok Bhavan for his fourth meeting with Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar in as many days to discuss government formation, before the latter appointed Vijay as CM and invited him to form ministry.
TVK workers burst firecrackers and distributed sweets and gathered in large numbers in party office to celebrate.
The VCK and IUML extended “unconditional support,” to Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.
DMK’s allies including the VCK have made it clear that they continue to be part of the Dravidian party led alliance.
Quickly after the VCK and IUML gave to TVK, letters of support addressed to the governor, Vijay went to the Lok Bhavan along with leaders from ally Congress,and supporting parties including the Left and VCK handed over the letters to Arlekar.
Parties including VCK will not be part of the government and they offer “outside support”.
After deliberations, Arlekar presented to Vijay a letter appointing him as the chief minister and asked him to form the government, a Lok Bhavan press release said.
Vijay called on the Governor at Lok Bhavan and submitted a letter informing about his election as the leader of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam Legislature party.
He has also submitted letters received from the Congress, CPI, CPI-M, VCK and IUML extending their support to form the government under his leadership.
The governor accepting Vijay’s claim to form government, appointed him as the CM as per the Constitutional norms and asked him to form the ministry. He also asked the TVK chief to face the vote of confidence on or before May 13.
The suspense over government formation ended when the Thol.Thirumavalavan-led VCK, which has two seats, finally extended support after keeping the TVK on tenterhooks and the political circles abuzz over its stand over the last two days.
VCK, a long time ally of the Left parties who had extended their support to Vijay on Friday, had earlier announced its decision would be in sync with their stand.
Shortly after VCK’s decision to back Vijay, another DMK ally, the IUML also extended support to TVK. IUML has two MLAs.
While it was expected that the VCK would announce its stand on Saturday morning, the party revealed its decision later in the day. There were unverified reports of some hard-bargaining between TVK and VCK, possibly over ministerial allocations, but there was no official confirmation from either sides.
Vijay, however, has been open to accommodate allies in his cabinet, in sync with VCK’s stated position of power-sharing.
With the two small parties’ support, the numbers in favour of TVK rose to 120, just two more than the simple majority mark of 118 in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.
The Vijay-led TVK also faced serious allegations when NDA constituent AMMK accused it of alleged bid aimed at horse-trading. MLAs belonging to Congress, which has extended support to the TVK, have shifted to Hyderabad.
The drama over government formation also witnessed the return of “resort politics” –last seen in Tamil Nadu after the demise of AIADMK matriarch and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2016, the five Congress MLAs were now in Hyderabad and TVK legislators were in a resort/hotel in Mamallapuram near here. While the AIADMK MLAs have returned to Chennai from Puducherry, its chief Edappadi K Palaniswami has greeted the “party that is set to form the government.”
The AMMK accused the TVK of allegedly using a “forged” support letter from its lone MLA to stake claim for government formation and also alleged horse-trading attempt and the party has lodged a police complaint.
The TVK dismissed the allegations as “false news,” releasing a counter-video purportedly showing MLA Kamaraj signing the “support letter” voluntarily.
Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, with 108 seats, but 10 short of a majority initially, had earlier reached out to the Congress, CPI, CPI (M),VCK and IUML– all DMK allies, seeking their support to form the government after winning its maiden Assembly election in Tamil Nadu, which was held on April 23. The results were declared on May 4.
Vijay, who has won from two segments, Perambur in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli East, He has to resign from one of them, bringing down the party’s strength to 107. The number of MLAs from parties supporting the TVK– Congress (5) and the CPI, CPI (M), VCK and IUML with two MLAs each, stands at 13.
The Congress has broken ties with DMK but the others have said they continue in the Dravidian-party lead alliance.
