The Congress on Wednesday said that it will support actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to form the government in Tamil Nadu after no party or alliance secured a majority in the Assembly elections.

A Congress delegation handed over a letter of support to Vijay at the headquarters of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam in Chennai.

On Tuesday, Congress leader KC Venugopal said that the TVK had requested support from the party to form the government. Venugopal had told reporters that the Congress leadership had directed the party’s Tamil Nadu unit to decide on the request “keeping in view the sentiments of the state reflected in the electoral verdict”.

On Wednesday, the Congress’ Tamil Nadu unit said that it stands for “secular, progressive and welfarist politics” and therefore it was its “constitutional duty to respect, uphold and help fulfil this mandate of the people”.

However, the party said that its support will be conditional upon the TVK “keeping out from this alliance any communal forces that do not believe in the Constitution” of India.

The alliance with the TVK is not only at the state level, but also for future elections to the local bodies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the Congress said.

On Monday, the TVK, on its electoral debut, emerged as the single-largest party in the Tamil Nadu elections, winning 108 seats.

However, the Vijay-led party fell short of the majority mark of 118 seats in the 234-member Assembly. It requires the support of other parties to form the government.

The Congress, which fought the elections in an alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, won five seats. The MK Stalin-led DMK won 59.

The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which were also part of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, won two seats each.

The National Democratic Alliance, mainly comprising the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the BJP, won 53 seats.

DMK says it was ‘backstabbed’ by Congress

On Tuesday, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai said that the Congress had won the five seats because of the DMK.

“When the BJP/RSS was trolling Rahul Gandhi as ‘pappu’ it was our leader MK Stalin who declared him as the prime ministerial candidate,” Annadurai said on social media. “Just putting things in a perspective.”

On Wednesday, Annadurai said that the DMK does not endorse the Congress’ support for TVK.

“It was their unilateral decision,” he said, describing the Congress as “the backstabbers”.

The Congress and the DMK are also part of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level.

On Wednesday, Congress MP and party’s Tamil Nadu leader Manickam Tagore said that the verdict had “gone against” the DMK government.

“Half the ministers in the Cabinet have lost their seats,” he said on social media. “We faced collateral damage for no fault of ours. Now, BJP is eyeing Tamil Nadu.”

“Should we stand with those rejected by the people’s verdict, or should we unite with the force that fought against BJP and fight to stop BJP from ruling Tamil Nadu?” he asked.

The TVK has also opened talks with the AIADMK, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.

As the results for the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu had become clear, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said on social media that he had congratulated Vijay on TVK’s “spectacular result”.

“This mandate reflects the rising voice of youth which cannot, and will not, be ignored,” said Gandhi.

Vijay thanked Gandhi on Tuesday and said that “we shall remain committed to excellence in public service, and preserving the cultural ethos of our state, which requires collective cooperation”.

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