Congress will quit Vijay Cabinet if Rahul is not accepted as PM candidate, says Minister

Tamil Nadu Tourism Minister S. Rajesh Kumar on Sunday (August 30, 2026) warned that he and his Congress colleague Viswanathan (Higher Education Minister) will quit the C. Joseph Vijay-led Cabinet if the TVK continued to push the narrative projecting Mr. Vijay as a Prime Minister candidate for the 2029 parliamentary elections.

“If Mr. Rahul Gandhi [Congress leader] is not accepted (by the TVK) as the Prime Minister candidate of the 2029 Parliamentary election, both the Congress Ministers in the Tamil Nadu Government will immediately resign their posts and pull out from the Cabinet,” Mr Rajesh Kumar said while addressing in a party meeting held at Marthandam on Sunday (August 30) night.

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Mr. Kumar said the Congress was gaining popularity among the people from all walks of life after Mr. Gandhi was relentlessly fighting against the Narendra Modi-led BJP Government and its “anarchic anti-people and anti-youth policies”. He had been accepted as the Prime Minister candidate by the voters across the nation and the Congress.

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“If the TVK takes a contradictory decision that it would not accept Mr. Gandhi as the Prime Minister candidate, the two Congress Ministers in the Tamil Nadu Cabinet will immediately resign their post,” Mr. Kumar said amidst thunderous applause from the party cadres.

His warning comes against the backdrop of some TVK Ministers and functionaries openly seeking to present CM Vijay as the Prime Minister candidate.