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Informist, Wednesday, May 6, 2026

NEW DELHI – The Indian National Congress Wednesday said it has not "backstabbed" its long-time ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam by extending support to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to form the next government in Tamil Nadu.

"You cannot call it backstabbing," Congress spokesman Pawan Khera said in response to a media query. "Two parties went into election as an alliance. What is the goal? The goal is to prevent the sludge from contaminating Tamil Nadu politics," he said. Khera earlier said that a lotus blooms only in sludge, referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party's election symbol.

"Now, if like-minded parties are forming a government to stop this sludge from spreading, what is wrong in that?" he asked. 

The debutant TVK, led by actor-turned-politician Vijay, won 108 of the total 234 seats in the recently-concluded assembly election, 10 seats short of a simple majority. The Congress, which fought in alliance with the DMK, won five seats. The newly-elected Congress legislators gave their letter of support to Vijay after a meeting at his residence in Chennai on Wednesday.

DMK leader Saravanan Annadurai called the Congress party's decision "myopic", and one that the Congress "will regret". "It has made them (Congress) a very unstable partner," Annadurai was reported as saying by news agency ANI. The DMK, with 59 seats, had no chance of reaching the majority mark even with the combined help of all the smaller parties.

However, the Congress said in a press statement that its support to TVK is on the condition of keeping out any "communal forces that do not believe in the Constitution of India". As per media reports, TVK was also in talks with All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a partner in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, which won 47 seats.

Khera also reminded mediapersons of the DMK's "unilateral decision" of contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha election alone. "Did you ask the DMK at that time whether it was backstabbing or not?"

Meanwhile, Vijay met Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar and staked claim to form the government.

If secular parties including the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the Indian Union Muslim League, which have two seats each, extend support to TVK, it will achieve a simple majority. Vijay's swearing in ceremony is likely to take place Thursday.  End

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

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