‘Support shall be conditional’: Congress’s big rider in joining hands with Vijay

The Congress may have broken its stable alliance with the DMK in Tamil Nadu and joined hands with actor-politician Vijay’s TVK, but it has a condition.
The country’s main opposition party, which won five seats in the southern state, has said its support shall be conditional on the TVK keeping “any communal forces” out of this alliance.
The Congress’s big move comes after the TVK won 108 seats in its electoral debut, and the incumbent DMK finished a distant second. TVK, however, is short of the magic number of 117 and needs support to form the government in Tamil Nadu.
In its statement posted on X this afternoon, AICC in-charge of Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar said the people of Tamil Nadu have delivered a “very clear, strong and overwhelming verdict for a secular, progressive and welfarist government that believes in constitutional principles”. The statement said Vijay had reached out to Congress for support.
“The Indian National Congress stands for, and is the founding political party for, secular, progressive and welfarist politics in India. It is our constitutional duty to respect, uphold and help fulfil this mandate of the people of Tamil Nadu. Accordingly, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) have decided to extend full support to the TVK to form the government,” the statement said.
“Our support shall be conditional upon the TVK keeping out of this alliance any communal forces that do not believe in the Constitution of India,” it added.
The statement also said that the alliance is not only for the formation of this government, but also for future elections to the local body organisations, the Lok Sabha, and the Rajya Sabha.
“Mr. Vijay and Shri Rahul Gandhi jointly pledge to respect this historic verdict of the people of Tamil Nadu for a secular and progressive government, and to fulfil the dreams and promises of the people, especially the youth of Tamil Nadu,” it said.

Congress has broken its alliance with DMK to extend support to TVK

How DMK Reacted

Earlier, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai slammed the Congress, calling it a “backstabber”. “Some smartie from Congress has screwed up big time,” he said. He added that Congress had made a “complete fool of themselves” because its support is not adequate to push TVK across the majority mark.
DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan, too, hit out at the Congress. “Congress is doing it in every state, and ultimately, they are losing in all of them. They were wiped out in Delhi and West Bengal. They have no chance in Maharashtra. They are doing something which will shut their party,” he said.