Vijay during his TVK rally in Puducherry
Credit: X/@TVKPartyHQ
Chennai: In his maiden political rally in Puducherry, Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) chief and actor Vijay on Tuesday dropped ample hints about reaching an electoral understanding with the ruling N R Congress for the 2026 assembly polls in the Union Territory.
Vijay, during his 10-minute speech, thanked Chief Minister N Rangasamy for his “impartial” attitude in providing security to his rally, and lavished effusive praise on him, while singling out his ally BJP for “deceiving” the Union Territory despite being part of the coalition government. He also took potshots at the DMK asking people not to believe the party which is known for “not fulfilling” promises made during elections.
The public meeting was tightly regulated with the administration learning lessons from the Karur stampede. TVK general secretary N Anand was also involved in a verbal duel with a senior police officer who told him not to dictate what she should be doing.
Not even once in his speech, Vijay spoke against Rangasamy or his N R Congress. In fact, Vijay began his speech by praising Rangasamy for allowing the public meeting and asking the DMK in Tamil Nadu to learn from the Puducherry Chief Minister. Rangasamy also watched Vijay’s speech on his smartphone.
“I wholeheartedly thank Puducherry CM sir and his government,” Vijay said, before launching a frontal attack on the BJP over a slew of issues including on the demand of granting statehood to the UT and the arrest of Karaikal fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy.
Vijay sparing Rangasamy, with whom he has had an excellent rapport, and training all his guns on the BJP has revived talks of the NR Congress and TVK coming together for the 2026 assembly elections. Vijay’s TVK believes that the actor’s popularity and Rangasamy’s simplicity will help them come to power – the actor in his speech on Tuesday did talk about how AIADMK first captured power in Puducherry in 1974 before its founder M G Ramachandran assumed office as Chief Minister in 1977.
Political analysts said making an impact in Puducherry with just 30 assembly constituencies is an easy task when compared to Tamil Nadu and hence Vijay believes he can deliver Puducherry in an alliance with a party native to the Union Territory.
“Vijay and Rangasamy had met several times in the past and there is a chance that they might form an alliance. We will have to wait till February for things to take shape. Rangasamy has been planning to quit the BJP alliance at the right time,” a source aware of the developments told DH.
During the course of his speech, Vijay said the Puducherry Assembly has passed a resolution demanding statehood 16 times, but the Union Government has not responded so far. “Also, the Union Government has not taken any steps to establish IT companies in the UT. They have not concentrated enough on enclaves like Yanam and Mahe. Statehood is the only way to ensure that Puducherry travels on the right path,” he added.