The growing chorus within the Tamil Nadu’s ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) calling for party founder and chief minister Vijay to be projected as the prime ministerial candidate for 2029 has now spilled into the public domain, extending beyond the Tamil Nadu Assembly where it actually started.
The ‘Vijay for PM’ campaign, coming less than four months after the actor-turned-politician took over as Tamil Nadu chief minister, has caused unease within the Congress, a TVK ally in the state.
The pitch directly challenges the Congress’s apparent push to project Rahul Gandhi, the current Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, as the undisputed choice for the Opposition’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Amid the uneasiness, TVK has convened a meeting of its allies on 9 September. While ‘Vijay for PM’ will be discussed for sure, the meeting also comes against the backdrop of differences between the TVK government and the Left parties over a controversial circular asking students not to participate in protests organised by the CPI, CPM and other parties.
The circular was subsequently withdrawn following protests from the Left parties, which had also demanded to know who was behind the move.
‘Vijay for PM’ national pitch
TVK ministers and MLAs begun speaking of Vijay in national terms around the time his government completed 100 days in Tamil Nadu in mid August. Public Works Minister Aadhav Arjuna was among the first TVK leaders who told the Tamil Nadu Assembly that the country should choose a prime minister from the South.
At a public meeting to mark 100 days of the TVK government in Virudhunagar, another minister Jagatheeswari said there was no doubt Vijay would become prime minister one day.
Jumping on the bandwagon was TVK legislator Kanimozhi, who asserted that Vijay is TVK’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. “Delhi will not decide who becomes PM. Tamil Nadu will decide,” the Kavundampalayam MLA said on Wednesday.
“He (Vijay) will usher in a huge change in the national politics,” and Rahul Gandhi himself would support Vijay for the prime ministership,” she said.
Social media reels promoting Vijay have also started appearing. The actor-turned-politician, who entered politics in 2024, has 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 has 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. “You need to have a majority of at least 272 members in the 543-member Lok Sabha. At this point, it looks premature, ambitious and a tall order,” political analyst and author, Rasheed Kidwai told Mint on phone.
But the other important point is that every elected representative or party leader is a potential prime minister, Kidwai said. “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,” he added.
‘If Ronald Reagon can be US President…’
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.
“In coalition like non-BJP alliances, Vijay has a potential. And then if Ronald Reagon can be President of America why cant Mr Vijay be in India,” Kidwai said.
Reagan was a Hollywood actor and starred in more than 50 films starting in the late 1930s, including Knute Rockne, All American and Kings Row. served as the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975. He won the 1980 presidential election and served two terms as the 40th US President.
Neither the TVK party headquarters nor Vijay has formally commented on the issue. Officially, the TVK has not joined the INDIA bloc though Congress is part of the TVK government.
“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 and Arvind Kejriwal came. 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,” said Amitabh Tiwari, Political Strategist and Commentator told LiveMint
How has Congress responded?
Tamil Nadu Congress president B Manickam Tagore has termed the ‘Vijay for PM’ talk a fan-club mindset. He 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.”
Congress leader Karti Chidambaram said his party is “aware of the political reality”. The Congress was the first political party in the state to support the Vijay-led TMk in forming the government in May, followed by the VCK, Left and the IUML.
“They may venerate their own leader and have their own ambitions, fantasies and dreams. That is entirely up to them. But to become Prime Minister of India, one needs the support of 272 MPs,” the Congress MP from Sivaganga said.
Kidwai points out that coalition partners in India have often very little ideological compatibility. For instances left and socialist groups have aligned with regional parties who lack ideological finesse, he said.
“Every party has personal ambition but they come together to keep someone out and in this case Modi and the BJP. That is the only glue otherwise there is no shared vision. So, I think there will be voices against Vijay within the Congress, but that doesn’t mean collapse of alliance. That doesn’t mean Rahul Gandhi cannot aspire to be PM or even for Mr Vijay,” he said
Congess dillema post DMK break-up
For more than 50 years, Tamil Nadu politics followed a two-party pattern. The DMK and the AIADMK alternated in power, while smaller parties aligned with one side or the other.
Vijay’s TVK, barely two years old, contested the Assembly election on its own in all 234 seats and emerged as the single largest party with 108 seats ends the DMK-AIADML duoply.
The TVK, in its maiden election, fell closely short of 118 setas, the minimum majority requited in 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly. The Congress with its 5 MLAs supported TVK Additional outside support from VCK, CPI, CPI(M), and IUML brought the tally to a working majority.
Since Congress decided to support Vijay’s TVK, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) parted ways with its decades-old ally Congress.
Two Congress party members serve as ministers in Vijay-led cainet K Rajesh Kumar, the Killiyoor MLA and P Viswanathan, the Melur MLA.
“The Congress by alligning with TVK has dug its own well in Tamil Nadu. They thought they would cash on Vijay’s popularlity by supporting him and expecting support in 2029. But that is not happening for now. TVK may not even need Congress in the alliance. A number of AIADMK MLAs will contest bypoll on TVK seat and win election. Thus TVK will be in power on its own in Tamil Nadu,” a DMK leader who does not want to be named said.
Political strategist Tiwari explains how ‘Vijay for PM’ pitch has further hurt Congress on the ground. That too when the DMK is not around. “Even if TVK wins 20 Lok Sabha seats in 2029, the party would perhaps push for Vijay as PM face and not Rahul Gandhi. For Congress party and Rahul Gandhi it would be ‘na idhar ke rahe na udhar ke’ situation (Congress and Rahul Gandhi would belongs neither here nor there’” he said.
‘Rahul not to lead a ragtag alliance’
The Congress by aligning with TVK has dug its own well in Tamil Nadu.
Most of the analysts that LiveMint spoke with said that leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan never accepted Rahul Gandhi as the Opposition’s prime ministerial face for Congress never had that mandate after 2014. Like Kidwai explained, “Rahul will not become a PM face of a ragtag alliance. Congress needs at least 200 seats for that”
Ravindran Duraisamy, another political observer, believes the balance of power in the alliance is already clear. “The Congress party cannot win Tamil Nadu election on its own. However, the TVK won 108 seats in its first election. Clearly, TVK is not the one which needs Congress. It is the other way around,” he told The Federal.
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