Since the election results on May 4 threw up a hung House, it has been a rollercoaster ride for C Joseph Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which is still one seat short of majority as we go to press. Times of India pieces together accounts from several sources—sometimes conflicting—about backroom manoeuvres. And, it is not over yet.
The Initial Power Play
Soon after the results of the Tamil Nadu assembly election were announced on May 4, it became clear that TVK had emerged as the biggest party with 108 seats but was 10 seats short of a majority. The backroom manoeuvring began immediately. AIADMK seniors S P Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam reportedly began efforts to engineer defections of 33 of 47 party MLAs to help TVK without Edappadi K Palaniswami's knowledge. Operating from his home in Chennai, Velumani, who reached the city late evening on May 4, plotted with Shanmugam to get 33 MLAs to their side, crossing the two-thirds mark and skirting the anti-defection law.
EPS-DMK Talks
Around the same time, on the night of May 4, EPS reportedly began talks with DMK's youth wing leader and MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin on forming a government with the support of 74 MLAs from the DMK and its allies to prevent Vijay from assuming office. The proposal soon gathered momentum, with several senior DMK leaders backing the move and mounting pressure on outgoing Chief Minister M K Stalin to consider a tie-up with archrival AIADMK.
TVK-AIADMK Negotiations
Parallelly, for three days, from May 4 until May 6 noon, Velumani and Shanmugam held hectic parleys with TVK leaders Bussy Anand and Aadhav Arjuna, besides Vijay's poll strategist John Arokiasamy. The demands they laid out included one ministerial berth for every five MLAs, which adds up to seven, besides the post of one deputy chief minister. There was total silence from TVK after Congress MLAs visited its Panaiyur office with letters of support on May 6.
TVK's Cold Feet
TVK broke its silence and resumed talks with the Velumani-Shanmugam-led group on Thursday, May 7, after VCK, CPI, and CPM continued to prevaricate on extending support to Vijay. At 11am the same day, Bussy Anand and Vijay's friend Vishnu Reddy met Velumani and held discussions with him for about an hour. But hours later, as CPI and CPM declared their support for Vijay, TVK turned cold again to the Velumani-Shanmugam proposal.
EPS Strikes Back
On May 6, Palaniswami too swung into action, summoning all newly elected AIADMK MLAs to his camp office. After a day-long series of hectic discussions with senior leaders and former ministers, he managed to thwart attempts by Velumani and Shanmugam to rally party MLAs in support of Vijay forming the government. Palaniswami remained firm against extending any 'voluntary support' to TVK. He subsequently deputed party deputy general secretary K P Munusamy to publicly declare that 'AIADMK will not extend support to TVK under any circumstance'.
Resort Politics
AIADMK MLAs were later ferried to resorts in Puducherry on May 6 and cut off from all forms of communication, in a development reminiscent of the infamous Koovathur resort episode that unfolded after the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
DMK's Deliberations
On May 7, Stalin held consultations with DMK MLAs and instructed them to abide by whatever decision the party leadership ultimately took. It was during a meeting with allies CPI, CPM, and VCK on Thursday morning that Stalin broached the idea of a DMK-backed, AIADMK-led government and sought their support. He is said to have urged allies not to sever ties abruptly like the Congress and instead remain within the DMK alliance. The allies said they would consider it. 'He told the allies not to do anything without informing him. He said he would not stop them,' a leader of the alliance said. On Friday night, VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan met Stalin at his Cenotaph Road residence, apparently to discuss an amicable separation.
Left Parties Shift
Though Stalin maintained publicly that DMK preferred to function as a strong opposition, intense backchannel negotiations continued to prevent Vijay from forming a government. The response from allies was far from unanimous. As for EPS, he travelled to Puducherry to meet the MLAs before returning to Chennai later on Friday night. Eventually, the plans of the Dravidian majors failed to take shape after Left parties showed little interest in the proposal. Instead, they moved closer to VCK and decided to support TVK. While the two Left parties openly extended support to TVK in its bid to form the next government, VCK continued to adopt a wait-and-watch approach, with the party saying a final decision would be announced on May 9 morning. There was a late-night side show with AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran calling on Governor Arlekar and demanding that EPS be sworn in as chief minister.
