Vijay’s TVK joins INDIA bloc: What it means for Tamil Nadu and DMK ahead of 2029 Lok Sabha polls | Explained

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has joined the opposition’s INDIA bloc at the national level. The development is, in a way, a formal acknowledgement of the post-electoral success strategy of Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, TVK, ahead of 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

TVK is in power in Tamil Nadu with the Congress as an ally. The VCK and IUML are also part of the alliance that helped Vijay form the government after TVK won 108 seats, ten short of the 118-seat majority in the Tamil Nadu assembly.

TVK representatives Aadhav Arjuna and Marie Wilson attended an INDIA bloc meeting on Saturday at the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee headquarters in Chennai, alongside the CPI, CPI(M), VCK, MDMK, and IUML.

Tamil Nadu Congress chief B Manickam Tagore said that the expansion of the INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu with the entry of TVK will significantly strengthen the anti-BJP front in the state.

‘Historic day’ for opposition consolidation

Terming it a ‘historic day’ for opposition consolidation, Tagore asserted that TVK’s inclusion will bolster the collective opposition front in Tamil Nadu and make the political battle against the RSS-BJP regime, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, far more compelling.

“This shows that the fight against the RSS-BJP, particularly the misrule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is going to be an interesting fight in Tamil Nadu as well,” he remarked.

The Congress leaader said the bloc constituents have decided to organise district-level demonstrations across the state demanding the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in connection with the Special Intensive Revision of electoral roll on October 13 and 14.

This will be followed up with a major demonstration featuring top leaders from all seven constituent parties of the INDIA block from this region on October 15.

As part of the nationwide pushback against the election body, alliance MPs will also march to the Election Commission of India headquarters in New Delhi on October 6.

TVK’s participation in the INDIA bloc meeting is significant because it changes the political geometry in Tamil Nadu. But it does not necessarily mean Vijay is surrendering TVK’s separate political identity.

What it means for Tamil Nadu, DMK?

INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu is effectively being rebuilt around Vijay, not the DMK, the erstwhile TVK ally. The DMK has stayed away from the latest Tamil Nadu INDIA bloc meeting, while Congress, TVK, VCK, MDMK, CPI, CPI(M) and IUML participated.

That is a dramatic reversal from the previous arrangement in which the DMK was the dominant Tamil Nadu component of the INDIA bloc. It, in a way, puts the Congress-Vijay relationship on a more formal footing.

Congress had already joined Vijay’s post-election governing alliance, which was subsequently named the Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance.

TVK’s INDIA bloc entry now also gives that relationship a national political framework. Clearly, Vijay is no longer simply a regional ally of Congress. His party is positioning itself within the broader anti-BJP political ecosystem.

The TVK-Congress alliance also complicates the DMK’s relationship with Congress considerably. The DMK had objected strongly when Congress backed TVK after the Assembly election. The party subsequently distanced itself from the Tamil Nadu INDIA bloc’s activities.

So Tamil Nadu now presents an unusual situation – two parties that were partners in the INDIA bloc nationally — the DMK and the Congress — are on opposite sides of the state’s new political alignment.

What does it mean for Vijay?

Vijay and TVK gain access to a much wider political network without abandoning the TVK-led alliance.

TVK can now work alongside Congress, VCK, MDMK and the Left on issues such as the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The alliance has already announced joint protests over the issue.

For Vijay, that gives TVK a broader organisational and political platform, rather than leaving it as a standalone regional party.

Vijay’s entry into politics is the extension of his reel life into real life and involves a lot of heroics. But, analysts say, it will also depend on how he performs as chief minister of Tamil Nadu before 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

So far, a national third front has not taken shape ahead of 2029 Lok Sabha polls. Remaining outside the BJP-led NDA while simultaneously keeping away from the principal national Opposition would not have suited TVK and Vijay. Now he has clearly taken sides.

“Mr Vijay is a household name not just in the southern parts of India but elsewhere too. Because of his electoral success, he has generated interest among people who do not know him. In coalition like non-BJP alliances, Vijay has a potential” political analyst and author Rasheed Kidwai told Mint on phone.

The actor-turned-politician, who entered politics in 2024, had recently emerged as the third-most preferred choice for the next Prime Minister of India in the latest India Today-CVoter Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll.

Vijay had about 9 per cent support, placing him behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 48.7 per cent and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at 27.1 per cent as per MOTN

“There has always been space for non-Congress-non-BJP face for PM or what is known as a face of the third front. We had Left first, then Mamata Banerjee andArvind Kejriwalcame. I remember polls giving them 7-8 per cent popularity. But the Left is not there any more. The Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee have been defeated. So Vijay is manifestation of that 7-9 per cent people in India who do not want to see BJP or the Congress in power,” Amitabh Tiwari, Political Strategist and Commentator told LiveMint recently.

What about ‘Vijay for PM’ slogan?

The development comes at a time when there has been pressure within TVK to project Vijay as the Opposition’s prime ministerial face for 2029, creating friction with Congress and its own national ambitions.

For now, that slogan has been put on hold. This basically allows TVK and Vijay to consolidate a position in Tamil Nadu without immediately picking a fight with Congress over the national leadership question.

Tamil Nadu Congress presidentTagore, who called the latest development ‘historic,’ had recently termed the ‘Vijay for PM’ talk a fan-club mindset.

Tagore had pointed out that Vijay himself first approached Rahul for support after the election results and that Congress backing helped the government take shape.He said that it was not possible to react to predictions of all “astrology channels.”

So, Vijay’s TVK joining the INDIA bloc is less about an ideological shift and more about formalising the post-election political realignment in Tamil Nadu. Congress and its allies have moved into Vijay’s camp, while the DMK has been pushed outside the new state-level configuration.