India
oi-Prakash KL
Amid uncertainty over the formation of the government in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK has shifted its newly elected legislators to a resort in Puducherry. The development underscores the deepening instability following an assembly election that has left the state without a clear path to government formation.
Senior AIADMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP C.V. Shanmugam, a key aide of party chief Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS), reportedly booked rooms for the MLAs.
Following the Tamil Nadu election, AIADMK moved its 47 MLAs to a Puducherry resort amid government formation uncertainty, as TVK leader Vijay, holding 108 seats, attempts to secure a majority.
Over 20 rooms were booked at The Shore Trishvam, a high-end resort in the Union Territory, to house the party’s 47-member cohort, India Today reported citing sources.
The sudden relocation follows a dramatic breakdown in negotiations between the AIADMK and the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), led by actor-turned-politician Vijay. Despite falling short of the 118-seat majority mark with 108 seats, the TVK has become the center of gravity in post-poll discussions.
Sources told The Times of India that the AIADMK had initially offered “unconditional support” to the TVK to ensure a stable government and keep the DMK out of power. However, the offer was abruptly withdrawn on Wednesday.
“We offered unconditional support… anything was negotiable, provided there was mutual respect,” a senior AIADMK leader stated. “However, Vijay has been unresponsive. He slighted us. Now, we must keep our flock together and demonstrate our political experience.”
The cooling of relations coincided with the Congress party, which holds five seats, offering its own conditional support to the TVK-specifically urging Vijay to distance his party from “communal forces.”
The Numbers Game
The current legislative map is a complex jigsaw puzzle that has left no single entity with a clear mandate:
Party Seats
TVK (Vijay) 108
DMK 59
AIADMK 47
Congress 5
PMK 4
Others (VCK, CPI, BJP, etc.) 11
While the TVK has secured the backing of the Congress, it still sits five seats shy of a majority. The AIADMK’s withdrawal leaves the TVK dependent on a fragmented group of smaller parties, including the PMK and various Left outfits.
The AIADMK is not alone in its caution. To prevent “poaching” or internal drift, the TVK has also reportedly moved its MLAs to resorts in Mamallapuram.
As the “resort politics” strategy takes hold, the AIADMK leadership has ruled out any alliance with the DMK, effectively entering a defensive crouch. By sequestering their “flock” in Puducherry, the party aims to maintain its leverage as the state waits to see if Vijay can cobble together a working majority or if Tamil Nadu is headed toward a prolonged period of political uncertainty.
