As the chief ministerial race heats up in Tamil Nadu, CPI state secretary, CPM state secretary and VCK chief T Thirumavalavan met DMK president MK Stalin
at his residence on Thursday. The meeting comes as Vijay's TVK continues efforts to gather support to form the government. Sources in the DMK said the party will not stop smaller allies or parties from extending support to Vijay if they choose to do so. Tamil Nadu's post-election political drama intensified Thursday as Vijay once again met Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at Lok Bhavan in Chennai and reiterated his claim to form the government. He reportedly told the Governor that he has the numbers to prove majority on the floor of the House. According to sources, as cited by ANI, the Governor said that Vijay can take the oath as Chief Minister only after TVK submits letters of support. "The Governor wants a stable government in Tamil Nadu. As soon as the numbers are proven, Vijay can take the oath," sources told ANI. The TVK's tally rose from 108 to 113 after the Congress provided conditional support, but still remains five short of the majority mark in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly. The TVK has reached out to VCK and CPI and CPM in order to make up the numbers, however, there have been no positive signals from the parties so far. On the other hand, reports are emerging of a possible alliance brewing between arch rivals, the DMK, which won 59 seats and the AIADMK, which won 47 seats, in a bid to keep the TVK out of power. In a separate development, the AIADMK has taken its newly-elected MLAs to neighbouring Puducherry, the party has said. AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan, speaking to PTI on Wednesday, said that the party MLAs have been lodged in Puducherry. However, he did not elaborate on the number of MLAs taken to Puducherry. Also, he did not specify the reasons for taking them to the union territory.
