A public disagreement has emerged in Tamil Nadu’s ruling coalition after supporters of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) circulated posters and videos projecting him as a prime ministerial candidate for the 2029 general election. The campaign was prompted by an India Today-CVoter survey placing Vijay third nationally in public support, behind Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. In response, Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu pushed back sharply, with a state minister warning that Congress ministers would resign and leave the government if Rahul Gandhi is not accepted by TVK as the alliance’s prime ministerial face.
To address the tension, Vijay convened a dinner meeting of coalition constituents—including Congress, CPI(M), CPI, IUML, VCK, and MDMK—at a resort near Chennai, urging allies to stand firmly behind the government inside and outside the assembly. Neither TVK nor Congress has formally repudiated the other’s position, with both sides characterizing the dispute as an internal coalition matter rather than a threat to the government’s survival.
The partnership formed only months prior when Congress ended a twenty-two-year alliance with the DMK to back TVK, helping it form the state government after the 2026 assembly elections and returning Congress to the state cabinet for the first time in fifty-nine years. Analysts note the episode tests the new post-DMK political alignment and highlights the delicate balance between TVK’s national ambitions and Congress’s need to protect Rahul Gandhi’s standing.