Overview
- Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay must prove his majority in the Assembly, with his TVK’s 108 seats boosted by outside backing from Congress, CPI, CPI(M), VCK and IUML to a claimed 121.
- A breakaway AIADMK bloc led by C. V. Shanmugam and S. P. Velumani publicly endorsed the government and named Velumani as legislative leader with G. Hari as deputy.
- Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s camp said the party’s numbers remain with him and issued a whip warning MLAs that cross-voting could trigger disqualification under the anti-defection law.
- The split showed in real time with rival AIADMK groups entering and sitting separately in the House, and reports said some MLAs were moved to a resort in Puducherry to hold them together.
- The outcome could recast opposition politics in Tamil Nadu as Vijay’s rise accelerates the AIADMK’s post-Jayalalithaa slide and forces a fight over who leads the party.