Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | Political inexperience on full display as Vijay's TVK stumbles through Raj Bhavan rituals

Chennai: From failing to carry a flower bouquet while meeting Governor R V Arlekar as a courtesy, to making a technical error by staking a claim to form a coalition government without the required numbers and even sending letters seeking support from smaller parties through WhatsApp – the political inexperience of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) is on full display.

Except for K A Sengottaiyan, who joined the TVK last year after spending 52 years in the AIADMK, the party does not have any experienced politicians who could guide it through the critical phase of government formation.

It all began on Wednesday, two days after the election results were announced, when the TVK staked its claim to form the next government.

It is believed that Sengottaiyan suggested the TVK should stake its claim as the single largest party. However, others in the party decided to attach a letter of support from five Congress MLAs, along with the resolution adopted by the TVK legislature party, to the letter to the Governor.

Since the objective was to form a coalition government, the Governor demanded that TVK chief C Joseph Vijay demonstrate that he had a strength of 118 -- the magic number in a house of 234 -- whereas he had only 112.

Without making the effort to reach the magic mark, Vijay and his team once again met the Governor on Thursday but were told to come back with the support of 118 MLAs. That is when leaders of the CPI and CPI (M) received the shock of their lives when letters from the TVK seeking support arrived via WhatsApp.

Though there were follow-up calls and personal visits, the leaders could not digest the fact that the serious business of forming a government was being reduced to seeking support via letters sent on a phone.

“Sending a PDF copy of a letter seeking support to form a government is not a joke. They should have been more serious. If they lacked experience, they should have spoken to veteran politicians to learn how to approach others for support,” the leader of a political party approached by TVK told DH.

On Friday, Vijay visited Raj Bhavan for the third time in three days, this time falling two short of a majority. “I really don’t understand who advises Vijay and his team. They should have enlisted the services of constitutional lawyers and experts to guide them through the process. They didn’t have a clue,” a senior politician told DH.

Another glaring error was that during the first time Vijay met the Governor, he merely carried a letter seeking an invitation to form the government, omitting even a flower bouquet as a courtesy.

“Etiquette is necessary in politics, and someone from Vijay’s team should have arranged for a flower bouquet and a shawl for the Governor. The Governor followed tradition by presenting him with a shawl and a memento,” a source said, adding that the “error” was rectified when Vijay returned to meet the Governor subsequently.

The icing on the cake was TVK releasing a video of AMMK’s S Kamaraj signing the letter of support for the party inside a car, after AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran claimed that Vijay’s party had forged the signature of his legislator.

No TVK leader went on record to dismiss Dhinakaran's claims; instead, the party merely posted the video on its media WhatsApp group. The irony, however, was that Dhinakaran held three press conferences in 12 hours on the issue.