No change in stand post-Karur stampede; TVK rules out tie-up with AIADMK, to go alone in TN Assembly polls

TVK chief Vijay announced that the party’s General Council will be convened on November 5 to discuss the next course of action.

Chennai: Amid AIADMK leaders inviting the party into their alliance, actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) on Wednesday dropped hints that it will contest alone in the 2026 Assembly polls by asserting that its stand on the alliance issue has not changed after the Karur stampede that claimed 41 lives.

 “There's no change in our stance. You people have been speculating many things, and it is unfair that you ask me to comment on them. Whatever was our stance a month ago remains and there's no change (we will contest alone),” C T R Nirmal Kumar, joint general secretary, TVK, told reporters here.

He was answering questions after the first meeting of the 28-member Co-ordination Committee appointed by Vijay to oversee the day-to-day functioning of the party.

Nirmal was asked about alliance and the presence of TVK flags in AIADMK rallies which prompted its general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami to say that the first step for an alliance between the two parties has been taken. 

This was the first meeting by TVK after the Karur stampede during which several issues, including resumption of Vijay’s campaign in a format that does not affect people’s routine lives, were discussed. Later in the evening, Vijay announced that the party’s General Council will be convened on November 5 to discuss the next course of action. 

Nirmal’s statement assumes significance in the wake of repeated invitations from AIADMK and BJP leaders to Vijay to join the alliance to “defeat the DMK.” His statement has also put an end to speculation, albeit for now, vis-à-vis TVK’s stand on alliance. 

Hours before the Karur stampede on September 27, Vijay had tore into the AIADMK for its alliance with the BJP and reiterated that his party will contest on its own by projecting him as the Chief Ministerial candidate. 

K G Arunraj, a former IRS officer and General Secretary (propaganda), said the co-ordination committee discussed Vijay’s campaign plan which will resume once the state government formulates the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for political gatherings.

“We'll ensure that his campaign meetings don’t be an obstruction to the people. We will plan in a way that we reach maximum people,” he added.

Despite his absence from the field for a month after the stampede, Vijay has disrupted the political scene in Tamil Nadu which has been bipolar for the past four decades. 

Since Vijay commands a massive fan following especially among youngsters, it is believed that he will eat into votes of both Dravidian parties, DMK and AIADMK.

Also by projecting his TVK as the primary “anti-DMK force”, Vijay aims at a section of the AIADMK voters who might be upset with the party’s alliance with the BJP.