It’s official, Vijay declares himself as CM candidate in 2026 Assembly election, TVK open to alliance

It’s official now. Actor-turned-neta Vijay is the Chief Ministerial candidate of his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), making the contest for the numero uno post in Tamil Nadu a four-cornered one.

A resolution to this effect was passed at the TVK’s General Council meeting, chaired by Vijay, at suburban Panaiyur in Chennai on Friday. With this, it becomes evident that the TVK is not prepared to play second fiddle to any other party though it remains open to alliance with the lure of ‘coalition government’. Another resolution empowered Vijay, the founder president of the party, to take decisions pertaining to alliances.

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Addressing the functionaries, Vijay asserted that the TVK would not have any truck either directly or indirectly with ideological enemies and divisive forces. “There is no compromise on fighting both the DMK and the BJP, and the party remains very firm and clear on this. The alliance led by the TVK will always be opposed to both the BJP and DMK,” he said, drawing huge applause from the members.

As the CM face of the TVK, he will now be taking on incumbent MK Stalin of the DMK-led alliance, determined to retain power; former Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), who is intent upon returning to office in the company of the BJP and a few other NDA constituents; and the ultra-Tamil nationalist Seeman of Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), with 8 per cent vote share, ploughing a lonely furrow.

Former BJP state president K Annamalai and Anbumani Ramadoss of the OBC Vanniyar dominant Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), expected to be potential contenders are no more in the reckoning.

While Annamalai has been eased out and replaced by Nainar Nagendran as the state party chief, Anbumani is engaged in a bitter war of succession with his father and party founder S Ramadoss and is moving closer to the BJP.

At the first state conference of the TVK in October last year, Vijay had declared the BJP as the party’s ideological enemy and the ruling DMK as the political enemy. Though the party was launched months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, it stayed away from the election stating that it was focused on the 2026 assembly election with the motto of heralding a change. The TVK had roped in acclaimed poll strategist and Jan Suraksha Party (JSP) president Prashant Kishore to chalk out the roadmap for the assembly election.

The much-awaited mass outreach of Vijay will commence in September, preceded by the party’s second state conference in August, the general council has decided. With his film charisma, Vijay remains a crowd puller, and his state-wide tour is aimed at taking the party closer to the people and to galvanise the TVK rank and file.

Condemning the Union Government for attempting to impose Hindi and Sanskrit, a resolution said Tamil Nadu should continue with its time-tested two-language policy of Mother tongue Tamil and English. The general council urged the Union Government to take on lease Katchatheevu, a rocky islet in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka, so as to protect Indian fishermen from the attacks by the island nation’s navy.