'We Prevented President's Rule in Tamil Nadu'

'The Dravidian parties wanted to prevent the TVK from forming a government.'

The 2026 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu threw up a hung assembly with the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam led by actor Vijay emerging as the largest party with 108 seats.

For a majority they needed 10 more seats which was provided by the Indian National Congress, the Indian Union Muslim League, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and the two Communist parties.

While the Congress and the IUML joined the government, the VCK and the Communist parties provide outside support after abandoning its long-time ally, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

"We wanted to prevent Tamil Nadu from going under President's rule, which would in fact mean BJP rule as they are the ruling party at the Centre," P Shanmugam, general secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist in Tamil Nadu, tells Rediff Senior Contributor A Ganesh Nadar.

Why did you decide to support the TVK government?

The elections resulted in a hung assembly. The TVK was the single largest party. Normally the governor invites the single largest party to form the Government, but the governor insisted that Vijay presents a list of 118 MLAs before inviting him.

The TVK asked us for support. They already had the people's mandate, so we decided to support them.

The other alternative was President's rule which means BJP rule which we had opposed during the elections. We fought the elections against them.

The TVK promised us a secular government and we agreed to give outside support.

You are supporting the TVK but not joining the government. Why?

We have two MLAs and the CPI has two MLAs, we cannot do much in the government as the TVK has many more members in the assembly.

We cannot support everything that they do, so we decided to provide outside support.

The DMK regularly says that the TVK government will not last very long. What do you think?

That is wrong. The government has the support of 120 members in the assembly which is a clear majority.

The DMK thinks it will not last.

Many AIADMK leaders are joining the TVK and soon the TVK will start resembling that party. What is your opinion?

We do not support MLAs resigning their seats in a short while. We condemn this. We have told the TVK not to encourage this.

We don't support defections. Everybody should oppose it. You will not see it in any Communist parties.

Some AIADMK leaders joining the TVK have corruption charges against them. The TVK keeps insisting on a corruption-free government. How will they manage this contradiction?

The government should not interfere with the corruption cases against them. It will spoil the TVK name.

You have said that the Secular Progressive Alliance no longer exists in Tamil Nadu.

What I said was that the alliance led by the DMK doesn't exist as most of the parties in that alliance have left it.

By-elections are due in Tamil Nadu for all the seats where the AIADMK rebels have resigned. Will your party contest these elections?

We have not thought about the by-elections now. The Communist parties will cooperate with each other. We will think about it at that time.

The DMK seems very bitter about your parting ways with them.

They don't have any right to be bitter. We prevented President's rule and they know that.

What advice would you give AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami to safeguard the AIADMK?

(laughs) It's an internal party problem that people are leaving their party. He has to decide. I cannot advise him.

What do you think about K Annamalai?

When he was the Tamil Nadu BJP president he could not do anything. The BJP is a national party. When he could not do anything with the party, I don't think he can do anything without the party.

There is no response to him or his organisation yet.

After the elections results came out in Tamil Nadu, there were rumours that the DMK and AIADMK would join hands to keep the TVK out. Was that true?

For 50 years both Dravidian parties have been the ruling party in Tamil Nadu. This election was a turning point. They wanted to prevent the TVK from forming a government.

We couldn't support the AIADMK as it had an alliance with the BJP.

We also knew that the cadres of the DMK and AIADMK would never support such an alliance.

The TVK has accused the DMK of horse-trading to pull down its government. Eight people have been arrested. Do you think the DMK is trying to pull down the government so soon?

An FIR has been filed. We will watch and see.

Do you think Vijay has the attributes to become a good chief minister?

He started his party two years back. He is a first-time chief minister. He is interested in serving the people. He has fulfilled a few of his poll promises.

The Budget will show his future plans. We will wait and see.

What do you think about the future of the DMK?

It is a strong and important regional party in Tamil Nadu. Under M Karunanidhi they came back to power after 13 years in the Opposition.

They have strong roots. They will remain strong.