Ahead of the Assembly elections next year, a small but growing section of Tamil Nadu Congress leaders has come to believe that actor-politician Vijay and his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) can provide the party an alternative route to relevance in the state.
While top Congress leaders recognise the comfort and stability of their alliance with Chief Minister M K Stalin’s DMK, which has yielded strong results in successive Lok Sabha elections, some leaders in the state unit see promise in the popularity of the TVK, even daring to imagine a coalition with him. The resulting tension is playing out in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), where decisions on seat-sharing and long-term positioning are being debated.
CLP leader and Killiyoor MLA S Rajeshkumar set the tone recently when he declared that the party’s MLAs would insist on a larger role in the DMK alliance. In the 2021 Assembly polls, the Congress contested 25 seats. The signal was that this time the demand will be for not just more seats but also participation in government.
The argument is rooted in history. The Congress has been out of power in the state for nearly six decades. While alliance politics has kept it visible, especially through Lok Sabha wins, its grassroots organisation has thinned. Rajeshkumar, the face of the smaller faction in the Congress, believes that ministerial berths can help the party rebuild networks and credibility. Others want to go further and be content with not just more seats from the DMK but have a parallel conversation around Vijay’s party, which has been drawing huge crowds at its public meetings.
“Top party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Tamil Nadu Congress chief K Selvaperunthagai stand with Stalin. They don’t want to exit from the DMK alliance. But others like Manickam Tagore, Sasikalanth Senthil, Rajeshkumar, and even K S Alagiri, who are seen as the anti-Selvaperunthagai team in the state unit, prefer the TVK, arguing it will provide the party more seats and a power-sharing advantage,” said a senior Congress leader.
Still, the leader said, the “Congress will not leave DMK as it is a proven alliance. From 2019 to 2024, we got good numbers. But, Rahul’s worry is the MP numbers in 2029, not MLA numbers in 2026”.
The arithmetic in favour of the DMK is also compelling. The Congress won eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it contested in Tamil Nadu in 2019 and nine out of nine in 2024, both as part of the DMK alliance.
Keeping a close watch, a senior DMK strategist said the Congress should not forget that crowd-pullers had failed to live up to their promise in Tamil Nadu before: Vadivelu was the biggest crowd-puller of the DMK in 2011, but the party suffered one of its worst defeats; and in 2021, Kamal Haasan got crowds, but failed electorally. “Vijay has not proven himself. Why should Rahul leave the DMK then?” asked the DMK leader.
However, that has not stopped the idea of a Congress-TVK axis from being privately discussed in some Congress circles. “The Congress has been a silent and obedient alliance partner to the DMK in Tamil Nadu,” said a senior party leader in Delhi. “Stalin has good equations with the Gandhis. He went to a Bihar rally to support Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against ‘vote chori’. The DMK has 22 MPs who are crucial for the INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha. But a case must have been made step by step … we have not done that. As of now, the TVK is an unproven entity.”
Another leader argued that staying perpetually in DMK’s shadow means the Congress can never grow in Tamil Nadu. “There are many at the national leadership who believe that being independent and with smaller allies will help the Congress emerge as an electoral force… rather than being in an alliance with a strong Dravidian party,” he said.
A Congress functionary said, “The TVK appears to be an emerging force, especially among the younger lot. Many party leaders are of the view that the party should consider new partners so that we can come up as a more significant force with control over the decisions.”
Vijay’s potential
As per some Congress insiders, Vijay’s fledgling outfit could capture as much as 20% of the vote in next year’s Assembly elections. The TVK’s own estimate is around 12% to 15%. The Congress’s vote share in the 2021 Assembly polls was 4.27%, and rose to 10.67% in the parliamentary elections last year.
“The youth, especially women under 35, could vote for the TVK,” said a Congress leader. “The visuals of Vijay drawing huge crowds for his rallies also have an impact. This is likely to pick up momentum in the coming months. If there are more strains in the AIADMK-BJP ties, the TVK is going to gain even more traction.”
A top source close to Vijay also pointed to the actor-turned-politician’s “very good rapport” with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while clarifying that no talks were on at present.
Incidentally, Vijay, who has been equally critical of the NDA and DMK, raised “vote chori (theft)” allegations against the BJP at his September 13 rally — aligning with Gandhi’s campaign against the BJP on the issue.
Asked about the TVK chief’s plans, the source close to the superstar said, “Vijay plans to form a DMK alliance without the DMK. If he can achieve that, he will claim 150 seats, and the remaining will be shared across the Congress, Communists, MDMK, VCK, and smaller Muslim and Christian outfits, with a promise of power-sharing.”
The catch, even TVK insiders admit, is consistency. “The question remains whether Vijay can work hard continuously, consistently, daily to gain the trust of the electorate, irrespective of people’s love for Superstar Vijay,” said a source.
For now, the official line from both parties remains firm: the Congress will stay with the DMK in the INDIA bloc. But behind the scenes, strategists are watching the TVK’s moves closely. Its performance in 2026 could redefine the Congress’s long-term trajectory in Tamil Nadu, either as a loyal junior partner to the DMK or a risk-taking ally of an untested star politician.