In a blow to the Congress, CPI(M) State secretary P. Shanmugam on Friday (June 5, 2026) objected to the national party’s Rajya Sabha candidate Praveen Chakravarty claiming that he had been nominated as the candidate of an alliance comprising the TVK, INC, VCK, IUML, CPI, and CPI(M).

The Congress, which has only five MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, on Thursday (June 4) night nominated Mr. Chakravarty for the Rajya Sabha seat allotted to it by its post-Assembly poll ally the TVK, which has 107 MLAs.

Following this, the Congress nominee claimed in a social media post that he had the support of all alliance parties of the TVK.

Reacting to Mr. Chakravarty’s post, Mr. Shanmugam said no one had approached the CPI(M) regarding the formation of any alliance.

“No one has discussed an alliance with us or sought our support for forming one. We have already explained the reasons for supporting the TVK government from the outside,” Mr. Shanmugam said, adding that Mr. Chakravarty’s post was an “audacious statement”.