'Ally With Vijay': TVK Offers Congress Historic Power-Sharing Deal to Reach Majority Mark

The political math in Tamil Nadu has just taken a sensational, high-stakes turn. While Thalapathy Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has undeniably emerged as the single largest party today, Monday, May 4, 2026, they are hovering just short of an absolute majority.

To bridge that final gap, TVK has executed a massive political maneuver: an open, public invitation to the Indian National Congress, offering them a direct, unprecedented share in state power to form the next government.

The Seat Math and the Open Invitation

As the final counting trends solidify this afternoon, TVK is currently projected to win around 110 to 111 seats. This leaves the party tantalizingly close, but roughly seven to eight seats shy of the 118 required to form an independent majority government in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.

Stepping in to secure the remaining numbers, Vijay’s father, veteran filmmaker S.A. Chandrasekhar (SAC), issued a direct public appeal to the Congress leadership. He explicitly urged the national party to break away from the sinking DMK alliance and back TVK.

"Ally with Vijay, he will give you the power you lost," Chandrasekhar told the press. It was a direct attack on the current coalition dynamic, arguing that Congress has been severely diminished by continuously acting as a voiceless junior partner to the DMK.

The Structural Shift: Ending the 'Junior Partner' Era

The real story here isn't just about finding seven MLAs—it's about the complete destruction of the Dravidian political rulebook.

For over five decades, both the DMK and AIADMK have operated on a strict "support from outside" model when dealing with national parties. They were happy to absorb Congress or BJP votes to secure their own majorities, but they absolutely refused to grant those national allies cabinet berths in the state secretariat.

By publicly offering Congress a share in actual governance, TVK is obliterating that unwritten rule. Vijay is actively exploiting the Congress's decades-long, simmering resentment of being treated as second-class political citizens by the DMK.

The Delhi Dilemma: To Jump Ship or Sink?

The sudden, highly lucrative offer has thrown the Congress high command into intense deliberations.

• The Internal Push: The Tamil Nadu Congress unit has already rushed a frantic internal assessment report to party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi. The local unit is strongly suggesting that the party "needs to support TVK" to remain politically relevant.
• The Pre-Poll Blunder: This invitation exposes severe internal friction over a massive pre-poll miscalculation. Congress held secret back-channel talks with TVK prior to the elections, with communications reaching AICC General Secretary Girish Chodankar. The top leadership in Delhi decided to stick with M.K. Stalin for ideological continuity—a move that state-level leaders now view as a devastating blunder given the anti-incumbency wave that just wiped the DMK out.

What Happens Next?

If Congress accepts the offer, they transition instantly from a defeated alliance partner to the kingmakers of the new Tamil Nadu government, securing real administrative power for the first time in decades. A defection would be the final nail in the coffin for the DMK, isolating them completely and likely fracturing the broader alliance networks in the South.

With the keys to the state secretariat dangling in front of them, the Congress party must now decide: remain loyal to a defeated DMK, or seize the opportunity to return to power alongside Tamil Nadu's newest political titan.