The TVK government is barely three months old. But remarks promoting Vijay for the country’s highest political office have prompted Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Manickam Tagore to repeatedly assert his party’s choice for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections: Rahul Gandhi.
“The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee is very clear. Our candidate is Rahul Gandhi. There is no doubt about that,” Tagore told reporters, while confirming that Congress would attend the September 9 meeting.
AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal on Sunday echoed Tagore’s views. “Nobody should create any such confusion. Rahul Gandhi will be the face of the INDIA alliance (in 2029)… The INDIA alliance is moving forward. There are some issues in a few states where they are competing against each other. Otherwise, it is the INDIA alliance itself that is moving forward. That is the truth,” Venugopal said.
Meanwhile, the meeting of the ruling coalition called by the TVK, which will be held at the party’s office, will follow the conclusion of the Assembly’s Budget session. It will be the second meeting of the parties supporting the Vijay government, after their discussions held at a hotel in Kovalam on July 1.
The first meeting envisaged a coordination committee, a common minimum programme and a name for the new alliance formation.
Tagore said the alliance’s name is to be decided and announced at the forthcoming meeting. “As far as we are concerned, the aim is to give this alliance a name and take it forward to a good position,” he said. The formation, he added, must be based on secularism and social justice and arrive at a common position on Tamil Nadu’s issues.
Asked about Vijay being projected as a prime ministerial candidate, Tagore sought to close the subject. “This is a story that is over, all right? There is no need to keep bringing this up again and again,” he said. “As far as we are concerned, Vijay should be Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister.”
Tagore said Vijay has just begun carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to him by voters. He accused sections of the media of seeking to create divisions within the secular alliances.
“In Tamil Nadu, we will take this forward clearly under Vijay’s leadership,” he said, while maintaining that Rahul Gandhi would lead nationally.
His earlier response to similar questions had been sharper. Asked about a minister’s description of Vijay as “Today’s CM, tomorrow’s PM,” Tagore said: “They are all in fan mode. Well, you cannot change people who are in fan mode.”
He also drew a distinction between the state arrangement and the national Opposition bloc. “Once TVK has MPs, we will ask TVK to join the INDIA alliance,” he said. “We cannot keep saying, ‘Come, come,’ to those who do not have MPs.”
In those earlier remarks, Tagore reminded the TVK ministers of the Congress’s role in enabling Vijay to form his government. He said Vijay had first called Gandhi to seek support. “Congress’s support came first, enabling all of them to become ministers,” he said.
Nevertheless, he left Vijay room to respond later: “Vijay will make the right decision at the right time. He always speaks very little. I think he will speak when it is time to speak.”
The TVK ministers have meanwhile begun inviting the parties supporting the government. N Anand, Aadhav Arjuna, Nirmal Kumar and Rajmohan met the leaders of the CPI(M), CPI and MDMK.
The two Left parties stayed away from the July meeting, saying they supported the government from outside and were not alliance members.
CPI secretary M Veerapandian said internal consultations would determine the party’s response to the invitation. He reiterated that it would not join the Cabinet. MDMK leader Vaiko confirmed his participation.
The outreach also brought an apology over official circulars concerning Left party members and student protests. Nirmal Kumar said officials had issued them without the government’s knowledge and assured the Left leaders that such incidents would not recur.
The July meeting was attended by leaders of Congress, the Indian Union Muslim League, MDMK and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, alongside Vijay. A formal alliance was not announced then.
Tagore described the September 9 gathering as a follow-up to the Kovalam meeting. He reaffirmed the party’s participation in it, declining to elaborate further on the national leadership question.
