Overview
- A 35-member cabinet was sworn in after the April election left TVK short of a majority, with 31 ministers from TVK, two Congress ministers, and one each from the IUML and VCK, and Left parties providing outside support.
- The Congress returned to ministerial office in the state for the first time in roughly six decades by joining the Vijay-led cabinet, a move allies say supplies administrative experience TVK lacks.
- The DMK has publicly attacked the switch, with party leaders calling Congress’s move a betrayal and predicting the government is unstable and likely to fall.
- VCK and IUML rejected DMK criticism and defended their decisions, while a rebel AIADMK faction that backed Vijay in the trust vote says it expected cabinet berths but was not accommodated.
- The government breaks a six-decade pattern of Dravidian majorities and creates clear durability risks because TVK is a new party, the coalition relies on multiple smaller partners, and competing post‑poll claims and factional tensions could test its unity.