Tamil Nadu battle: Congress attacks BJP, DMK over blocking TVK government

Congress on Saturday accused the BJP and DMK of attempting to block TVK chief Vijay from forming a “secular government”, claiming the two parties were working indirectly to prevent other opposition groups from extending support to TVK as the battle for government formation in Tamil Nadu intensifies.

Amid talks of the split in the INDIA bloc in Parliament, Congress leader Praveen Chakravarty, in a post on X, said that the BJP wants to prevent TVK from forming a government with support from secular parties, further stating that DMK is now ready to support AIADMK to form Tamil Nadu government and try its best "to prevent other secular parties from helping TVK.”

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Earlier on Friday, the DMK approached Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking separate seating arrangements for its MPs instead of sitting alongside Congress members in the House, marking the first formal split within the alliance.

DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi wrote a letter to Birla, requesting "suitable changes in the seating arrangement of MPs belonging to the DMK in the Lok Sabha."

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"In view of the changed political circumstances and as our alliance with the Indian National Congress has come to an end, it may not be appropriate for our members to continue occupying the present seating arrangement alongside them in the House," Karunanidhi wrote.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader has requested the Speaker's office to allot separate seating for DMK MPs. The party has 22 members in the Lok Sabha and eight in the Rajya Sabha. The DMK front had provided significant support to the Congress within the INDIA bloc.

On May 7, Chakravarty shared a post by Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Sappal, who accused the Tamil Nadu Governor of rejecting the provisions for a minority government.

"The Governor of Tamil Nadu has told TVK chief Vijay that he will not receive an invitation to form the government until he provides a list of support from 118 MLAs. By imposing such a condition, the Governor is rejecting the provisions for a minority government," he said in a post on X.

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TVK secured 108 seats in Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections and is now seeking support from several smaller parties to touch the majority mark of 118 seats in the 234-seat Assembly.

The CPI and CPI(M), have two seats each, while the Congress has five seats in the state. The three parties have already extended their support to the Vijay-led TVK to move forward with a change from the traditional Dravidian DMK-AIADMK duopoly. Vijay is now seeking the final word from VCK to join the alliance for government formation.