Assembly Elections 2026 | DMK ‘bought over’ Tamil Nadu Congress; real Congress with me: TVK chief Vijay

Chennai: Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) chief C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday alleged that the ruling DMK “bought over” the Tamil Nadu Congress by using its “money power” and claimed that the “real Congress” stood by him and his party, which was “striving hard” to save the state’s secular fabric

Addressing a public meeting in Tirunelveli, Vijay said both alliances – Secular Progressive Alliance and the National Democratic Alliance – were in shambles in Tamil Nadu due to severe infighting between the constituents.

The actor-politician also targeted the DMK for trying to blame him for the Karur stampede in which 41 people were killed and accused the ruling party of trying to cripple him by a new Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for public meetings. Without referring to a divorce case filed his wife Sankgeetha, Vijay said the party has also failed in raking up the issue very close to elections through people close to him.

Vijay dubbed the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) as a “cash-box alliance” and alleged that it was stitched together only by using “looted" money. “(Chief Minister M K) Stalin sir bought the Tamil Nadu Congress by spending a lot of money, but the real Congress is with the TVK. The two major alliances are in shambles that even constituents won’t vote for other parties,” Vijay alleged.

The actor’s statement on Congress is aimed at wooing disenchanted voters of the national party, which was split between allying with DMK and TVK. The faultlines within the alliance came out in the open on Monday when Rahul Gandhi and Stalin campaigning separately in Puducherry, which goes to polls on Thursday.

Reacting to Vijay’s statement, Congress MP Sasikanth Senthil said “real Congress is with me" sounds less like a political claim and more like the language of a fanatic fan club.

“A 130-year-old movement grounded in ideology, collective leadership, and historical struggle cannot be reduced to personal ownership. Such assertions don’t reflect political depth, they simply attempt to divert attention from the real issues at hand,” he said.