Congress has moved to support Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, giving the actor-turned-politician a clearer path to government formation after his two-year-old party overturned decades of electoral dominance by the DMK and AIADMK.TVK emerged as the single-largest party in the 234-member Assembly with 108 seats, 10 short of the 118 needed for a majority. Congress, which won five seats, has now become a decisive post-poll player as Vijay seeks to convert a landmark electoral debut into a working administration. The Election Commission’s results showed DMK at 59 seats, AIADMK at 47, Congress at five, PMK at four and IUML at two, creating a hung Assembly and forcing urgent coalition negotiations.
Congress MP Sasikanth Senthil said, “Yes, the Political Affairs Committee has authorised the TNCC to support TVK in government formation.” The statement marks a significant shift in Tamil Nadu politics, where Congress had fought alongside DMK for years and relied on that alliance to retain relevance in the state’s fragmented electoral landscape.
Vijay’s party is now expected to seek additional support beyond Congress, as the combined TVK-Congress strength would reach 113, still five seats below the majority mark. Discussions with smaller parties and independents are likely to determine whether the new administration takes shape as a coalition, a minority government with outside support, or a broader arrangement designed to avoid political instability.
The move has unsettled the DMK camp, which lost power after a sharp erosion in its support base across several regions. The party had entered the election with the advantages of incumbency, organisation and alliance depth, but TVK’s appeal among younger voters, first-time electors and urban constituencies reshaped the contest. AIADMK, long the other pole of Tamil Nadu politics, also failed to capitalise on anti-incumbency sentiment, leaving Vijay’s party to occupy the centre of the political churn.
Vijay’s own victory from Trichy East gave symbolic weight to TVK’s campaign, which blended welfare promises, anti-corruption messaging and a carefully managed celebrity-to-politician transition. His party’s performance in Trichy and parts of western and northern Tamil Nadu showed that its support extended beyond fan networks, though it struggled in some Cauvery delta constituencies where older Dravidian structures remained resilient.
Congress faces a delicate balancing act. Supporting TVK allows it to stay inside the power equation after a weak seat tally, but the decision risks rupturing its relationship with DMK, a long-standing partner in state and national politics. Party leaders are also weighing the national implications of the move, particularly at a time when opposition alliances remain under pressure after major state-level verdicts.
For TVK, Congress support offers legitimacy as well as legislative arithmetic. Vijay’s party entered electoral politics only in 2024 and must now move quickly from campaign rhetoric to governance. Cabinet formation, portfolio allocation and a common minimum programme will test whether the party can manage competing expectations from voters, allies and its own first-time legislators.
Tamil Nadu’s political order has been dominated for more than half a century by Dravidian parties shaped by cinema, language politics, welfare networks and regional identity. Vijay’s ascent carries echoes of earlier actor-politicians, including M G Ramachandran, but the 2026 verdict differs in its speed and scale. TVK has moved from launch to power negotiations within one Assembly cycle, without inheriting a major party structure.
The BJP’s failure to secure meaningful traction in Tamil Nadu has also influenced Congress thinking. Several Congress leaders view support for TVK as a way to keep the state’s government formation outside the BJP’s reach, even if that means breaking with DMK. That calculation gives the move a wider political significance beyond Chennai.