Chennai: Tamila Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader C Joseph Vijay’s aspirations to become the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu was temporarily halted on Thursday with Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arleker informing him that he has to show the numbers first. The development came even as the DMK leader M K Stalin, under pressure from senior party leaders, broached with allies about the option of backing a Government headed by arch rival and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.
On Thursday, the Governor “invited” Vijay to the Lok Bhavan in Chennai and “explained that the requisite majority support in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, essential for forming the Government, has not been established.”
Vijay with his party 107 (since he has to resign one seat) and the backing of the Congress’s five members has only 112 instead of the 118 mark in the 234-member House.
In a simultaneous development, three former Ministers from the DMK, called on their party president and outgoing Chief Minister M K Stalin to convey that he should consider backing an AIADMK proposal seeking support to form a Government. “The three leaders told Stalin that if Vijay becomes Chief Minister now, he would remain at the top for the next 10 to 15 years and it would not be possible to politically challenge him. Since Stalin following his defeat will not be a member of the new House, they suggested to him that it should not be a problem to support an AIADMK coalition and stop Vijay from becoming Chief Minister,” a source claimed.
Soon after this development, Stalin invited leaders of the CPI, CPI-M and VCK to his house and reportedly urged them to take a decision on supporting such an arrangement. “Stalin told them the DMK will not share power with the AIADMK but support it from outside but the allies were free to decide their course,” a source said.
The leaders of the three parties – Veerapandian, Shanmugam and Thirumavalavan – are learnt to have told Stalin that they would decide by tomorrow.
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The three parties with two seats each now hold the key to the formation of the next government. Together between the current DMK and AIADMK fronts, sans the lone BJP MLA-elect, if everyone comes on board will have 120 legisaltor-elects, enough to cross the majority mark.
Earlier in the day, leaders of these parties had issued statements urging the Governor to invite TVK to form the government as it had emerged as the largest single party.
If the three parties decide to back the TVK, then Vijay would be in a position to form the government.
