Despite Cong support, Vijay-led TVK struggles to find more allies

Vijay's TVK falls short of majority in Tamil Nadu and struggles for allies, as political churn unfolds across Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry

Actor-turned-politician Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which emerged the single-largest party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, but fell short of the majority mark by 10 seats, continued to struggle to find allies on Wednesday.

 

The Congress’ Tamil Nadu state unit extended support to the TVK, but ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) said it will not support the Vijay-led party. As part of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DML)-led alliance, the Congress won five seats and the IUML two seats. 

 

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) said that it will not extend support to Vijay-led TVK in government formation in Tamil Nadu. The party has not backed the TVK under any circumstances so far, it said.

 

 

Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Wednesday dissolved the 16th Legislative Assembly with effect from May 5, the Lok Bhavan said. TVK chief Vijay met Arlekar on Wednesday and staked claim to form the government in the state. 

 

In Puducherry Lieutenant Governor K Kailashnathan dissolved the 15th Legislative Assembly with effect from May 5, the Lok Bhavan said. N Rangasamy is all set to lead Puducherry for the fifth time with his party AINRC-led NDA winning the elections in the UT with a handsome margin. 

 

In Kerala, contenders to the chief ministerial chair and their respective camps have launched campaigns, including on social media. The race for the post is between Congress leaders V D Satheesan, K C Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won a massive 102 seats, unseating the Left Democratic Front from power after ten years. The Congress has appointed senior leaders Mukul Wasnik and Ajay Maken as party observers for Kerala. The race for the chief ministership is among three members of the Nair community -- Chennithala, Venugopal and Satheesan. All three are disciples of the late Congress stalwart and former Chief Minister Karunakaran. In a jibe at Satheesan, Chennithala on Wednesday said that social media campaigns and putting up of flexboards will not be the deciding factors for selecting the chief minister of Kerala.

 

In West Bengal, the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government will be sworn in at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on May 9, the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. A meeting of the newly elected BJP legislators has been convened on May 8 evening. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is being seen as the frontrunner. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin, several Union ministers and chief ministers of BJP- and NDA-ruled states are expected to attend the oath ceremony.

 

During the election campaign, Shah repeatedly asserted that the chief minister would be a “son of the soil”, born and educated in the state, in an attempt to blunt the Trinamool Congress’ sustained attack that the BJP represented an “outsider” political culture alien to Bengal's social and intellectual traditions.

 

The term of the West Bengal Assembly ended on Wednesday evening, sources in the Election Commission pointed out, suggesting that it was now a moot point whether Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee sends in her resignation or not. Sources said it is a tradition for the outgoing CM to drive to the Lok Bhavan to submit resignation to the Governor and not mandated under the Constitution.

 

In a related development, Bangladesh Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Wednesday expressed hope that people will not be pushed in his country after the BJP’s victory in the recent assembly polls in bordering states.

 

“I hope no such incident (push backs) will happen,” Ahmed told reporters when asked if he feared an increase in cases of people suspected of being illegal immigrants being pushed from India. Ahmed, however, said that the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have been asked to “remain alert” along the frontiers.

 

Ahmed’s comments came a day after Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman was quoted in the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party's official Facebook page saying that Bangladesh will take action if “push-in” incidents occur amid the change of power in the bordering state of West Bengal.

 

The Election Commission on Wednesday said there were more than 6.8 million attempts from India and abroad targeting its key election platforms, including the results portal on May 4 when votes were being counted for five assemblies. In a statement, the EC said ECINET cybersecurity protocols resulted in "effectively countering" over 6.8 million malicious hits. Since its official launch in January, the ECINET app has witnessed a significant surge in usage and has over 100 million downloads to date. To enhance security at the counting centres, the EC introduced a new QR code-based photo identity card system for the first time on the counting day and over 320,000 QR codes were generated.