Overview

• At TVK’s second state conference in Madurai, Vijay was formally projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate and announced he will contest from Madurai East.
• Vijay declared the 2026 election a direct contest with the DMK, calling the BJP his ideological foe and asserting TVK will field candidates across all 234 constituencies.
• He urged voters to treat every TVK nominee as his own candidacy, while invoking 1967 and 1977 to frame a break with the state’s political status quo.
• His speech targeted the Centre and the state on NEET and fishermen’s issues, pressed for retrieving Katchatheevu, and accused the DMK of a tacit understanding with the BJP.
• The event drew a massive crowd under heavy security; a crane mishap damaged a car without injuries, and a 33-year-old TVK worker was reported dead after collapsing en route to the venue.