TNCC Chief Meets CM Vijay at Secretariat to Avert TVK-Congress Alliance Split

A potential breakdown of ties between ruling coalition partners TVK and Congress in Tamil Nadu was averted after Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president Manickam Tagore met Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat in Chennai on Monday.

The meeting was arranged to achieve a rapprochement between the two parties, which had found themselves at loggerheads over claims regarding the country's next Prime Minister.

The political differences were initially triggered when State Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Aadhav Arjuna suggested that the next Prime Minister of India should hail from Tamil Nadu. Following his statement, TVK supporters launched an online campaign titled 'Vijay for Prime Minister', which rapidly gained traction across social media platforms.

The debate escalated further following an opinion poll conducted by survey agency CVoter in collaboration with a national English magazine. The survey projected Vijay as a contender for the post of Prime Minister in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. According to the poll results, Narendra Modi secured 48 percent support among respondents, Rahul Gandhi ranked second with 27 percent, and Vijay registered 9.2 percent backing.

As the survey results circulated widely online, tensions flared within the coalition. Tagore remarked that the TVK cadre had refused to move beyond their film fan club mentality.

In response to the growing campaign by TVK supporters, State Minister S Rajesh Kumar warned that the Congress party would resign from its two ministerial berths in the State cabinet, indicating a possible rupture of the ruling alliance if the TVK did not back Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate.

Tagore also addressed the issue publicly on his X account by sharing a short fable involving forest animals, specifically a fox attempting to create a rift between a lion and an elephant who shared a strong coalition. Sharing the moral of the story, Tagore stated that not every number reflects the truth and not every survey represents the voice of the people, urging the TVK not to take the opinion poll seriously.

With the alliance appearing to hang by a thread over the competing leadership claims, Tagore visited the Secretariat on Monday to hold discussions with Chief Minister Vijay and resolve the contentious issues between the two coalition partners.