Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president B. Manickam Tagore has expressed hope that TVK leader and Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay will also endorse Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the INDIA bloc’s Prime Ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha polls in 2029.
In an interview with The Hindu, he exuded confidence that Mr. Vijay would make such an announcement ahead of the parliamentary election.
When pointed out that TVK’s second line leaders were already projecting Mr. Vijay as the “future Prime Minister”, he said such slogans were no longer being raised. “A few people in the party were expressing their personal wish. They are not talking about it now. When the elections arrive, the TVK chief will announce who they are supporting. The Tamil Nadu Congress will contest the elections projecting Rahul Gandhi, and I am 100% confident that Mr. Vijay will support it,” Mr. Tagore said.
According to him, the DMK, which exited the INDIA bloc after the Congress joined the TVK-led Ministry post-Assembly polls, will not win in the Lok Sabha elections even if it forms a [national-level] third front. “Didn’t they contest alone in 2014? How many seats did they win? The exact same thing will happen now. They talk about forming a third front; their wish will be fulfilled in the by-elections — they will only get the third place,” he said.
He believed the DMK’s exit has not weakened the Opposition in any way at the national level. “People claimed that the Opposition wouldn’t be able to achieve anything during this parliamentary session. Yet, we did not let the session run. As far as we are concerned, all 23 members of the INDIA bloc remain ideologically united,” Mr. Tagore said.
He felt movements like the Cockroach Janata Party might exist as a phenomena for sometime, but the chances of a real third front emerging are slim. He alleged that the BJP manufactured stories about third fronts purely to split the Opposition votes.
When asked whether TVK would be aggressive in taking on the BJP, he responded: “TVK is a young party. As far as they are concerned, they stand with us on issues like delimitation. Furthermore, in Tamil Nadu, there is a Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance. Whenever the BJP acts against Tamil Nadu, this alliance will collectively decide the course of action. I am confident they will stand with us on the protest ground.”
Questioned about TVK’s silence on several national issues, he justified it saying, “Everyone has their own style. You cannot expect someone to prove themselves every single day or issue press statements daily.”
Published – September 25, 2026 01:45 am IST
