Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | Vijay's performance revive memories of predictions by Prashant Kishor

Patna: Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor was in limelight on Monday for having predicted "a very good chance" for Tamil superstar Vijay, whose fledgling TVK has emerged as the single largest party in Tamil Nadu.

The 48-year-old former poll strategist, who has been touring his home state to revive his less than two years old party, could not be reached for comments on the development in the southern state where he is rumoured to have helped the actor turned politician.

However, video clips have gone viral on social media in which Kishor, who claims to have given up political consultancy in 2021, making uncannily accurate forecasts about Vijay and the TVK.

In one of these videos, purportedly of a function hosted by the Tamil superstar, Kishor jocularly told the people that he looked forward to beat cricketer Mahender Singh Dhoni, the former Chennai Super Kings skipper, and become "the most popular Bihari in Tamil Nadu" by helping their favourite movie star achieve power in the state.

Notably, Dhoni, whose roots are in Uttarakhand, considers Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, as his home, having been born and brought up in the tribal state which was carved out of Bihar 26 years ago.

In another video clip, of an interview he gave to a Tamil news channel, Kishor predicted "a very good chance" of Vijay "winning" the southern state, "if the AIADMK forms an alliance with the BJP and the DMK-led coalition retains its current form".

The reporter, who looks visibly stunned, can be seen pointing out to Kishor that Vijay was "still an untested entity" in politics and it needed "118 seats" for any party to get a majority in Tamil Nadu assembly.

However, Kishor brushed aside the skepticism with the averment "hope is the biggest strategy, it is what drives our lives".

The TVK, which contested the assembly polls alone, is likely to finish with a tally of 110 seats in the Tamil Nadu assembly, eight short of a full majority.

The ruling DMK is set to lose power, finishing a distant second, with a tally of less than 60,.followed by AIADMK which is likely to win around 45 seats.

Alliances headed by neither the DMK nor the AIADMK, parties which have dominated the southern state's politics for several decades, came close to the magic mark.