Will VCK Checkmate Vijay Or Make Him CM? Explained

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:16][music] >> But what a day it really is becoming.

[00:00:24]You [music] have BJP script a historic chapter in Bengal. Bengal scripting a historic chapter. That's one part of [music] it.

[00:00:33]And in Tamil Nadu, it's literally a race against [music] time for Vijay.

[00:00:40]The Jananāyakan, the real Jananāyakan who's got possibly not a clear mandate, but has emerged as the single largest party is getting a huge challenge. Has to face a huge challenge to be able to meet that 118 magic number mark. Now that magic number mark is also becoming a huge topic of debate.

[00:01:03]Let's just break this down for you. The latest being VCK hasn't decided yet whether it's going to back Vijay or not.

[00:01:12]So the question that we really are looking at is is VCK going to ditch or back Vijay? Why is this important?

[00:01:20]Because VCK has two MLAs. Now if VCK has two MLAs, when you combine it with CPI(M) and CPI, that's two MLAs. So that's a quota of four MLAs which could go straight into Vijay's kitty if VCK decides to back Vijay. This, along with the five MLAs of Congress, and the 108 seats of TVK, which is actually 107 because you know one of them will have to be given up by Vijay because he contested from two seats. So essentially that gives you helps you cross the 118 mark. Now, if VCK does not do that, Vijay will not meet the 118 mark.

[00:02:04]Will he be able to swear in? Well, as things are currently, the governor has said, "Get the 118 mark, otherwise, the swearing in cannot happen." Huge furor around this because there are many constitutional experts, your former law minister, you have former ASGs who have spoken about this, and they have said, "Constitutionally, governor should have allowed him to go ahead and do the swearing in, to conduct the swearing in, to take oath, and then prove his numbers in the floor of the house." This has happened in the past.

[00:02:39]This has happened in the past.

[00:02:41]Um in several governments. In fact, there have also been cases in the past where minority governments have been called on to take oath. And by minority, I don't mean the religion minority. It really essentially is that you don't have the numbers. You're still minority in your numbers, but because you are still the, you know, so-called single largest party, you've been called. You've been called to form the government, like in Manipur, and they went on um Uh no, this was uh this was during the Narasimha Rao time, you know, and Narasimha Rao government actually went on to complete its 5 years. It completed its 5 years comfortably. It was a minority government. It was called to swear in, um to take oath, and then they had to go through a confidence test on the floor of the house, which it cleared comfortably with support from um with par- with parties that gave it the support from outside, and eventually it completed its 5 years. So, there have been cases in the past where either the single largest party has been called on to form government, and they have gone on. They've also fallen. There have been cases where they've fallen as well. But they have nonetheless been called.

[00:03:53]Or there instances also where like in Narasimha Rao's case where you have been called on and you've comfortably finished your tenure as well despite not really having the majority number mark while being called to swear in. There are also other cases where it's possibly not the single largest party.

[00:04:13]It's not the single largest party.

[00:04:16]But you do manage to get the numbers together eventually.

[00:04:21]Some would call it horse trading.

[00:04:24]And you go on to form the government.

[00:04:26]That has also happened. You've had that case in the Manipur. You've had that case in Delhi. So these are also the another big question that's emerging in Tamil Nadu is why is the governor not asking Vijay to take oath. So there are many In fact, the left has gone on record. CPI and CPI-M have gone on record to say that this is nothing but the governor acting as an agent of BJP.

[00:04:50]Congress has gone on record saying that this is a constitutional breach. It's a breach of constitutional principles as it were.

[00:04:58]And however there are others who have pointed out it is the discretion of the governor. However, the Supreme Court has many times said this again and again that just on the mere basis of suspicion the government should not stop from calling the single largest party to take oath.

[00:05:21]The leader of the single largest party to take oath. Just because you are suspicious of the fact that they may not be able to form the stable numbers or a stable government, you should not stop from calling them to oath. The very fact that they have they are the largest party and they've got the mandate in terms of the numbers of being the largest party, it's for them to prove the majority on the floor of the house. That's also something that the court has said empty number of times. So, this is really what everything is boiling down to. One, when is going to be the swearing in swearing in of Vijay because let's let's face the fact Vijay has given a sweeping, you know, I mean it's a historic. It's not a sweeping mandate. It's not a sweeping mandate. It's a historic moment because it's almost three decades of Dravidian duo play being washed off.

[00:06:12]Uh people have rejected that in a sense.

[00:06:14]It's It's a fresh face.

[00:06:16]Uh most of the people wrote off Vijay saying that he is a leader who has great fan following. But he not It that will not get converted into number. So, he was clearly written off. Many said, "Okay, he may get 15% votes or 10% votes and he may help form the government if there is, you know, a close tie or so."

[00:06:37]But clearly Vijay did become Vijay's TVK did become the single largest party which essentially means that, you know, Tamil Nadu is right now in a case of hung assembly.

[00:06:48]And that's where this entire controversy really comes in. How Vijay is being treated by the governor. There's of course many people who are saying, "What's up with Vijay repeatedly going to the governor? Why is he doing that?

[00:06:58]What is the statement that he's making?"

[00:07:00]Many people critiquing him to say, "This is not a movie. This is not a film that's happening. What is this going in and coming out of Raj Bhavan every other day? You do not need to be giving a daily report to the governor as it were.

[00:07:14]This is This is your job to get the numbers." But here's Vijay, I think in my opinion making a very public stand public opinion and this is his politics.

[00:07:25]This is his way of ensuring he's messaging to the people of Tamil Nadu that listen, you've given me the numbers that you've given me, but I'm not being allowed to form the government. VCK now is going to be very critical and we'll have to see what really surfaces. DMK did say that they will not interfere with the TVK government for the 6 months but you know this is undercurrent of AIADMK and DMK being in talks which is not something that I collaborate with I that's not the sense that I'm getting from my sources in Tamil Nadu at least but you know there have been cases where other parties have come together and checkmated the single largest party in the past so we'll have to really see this VCK now being really crucial part of the number juggernaut for the 118 magic figure that's me Sneha Koshy decoding Vijaypath or Vijay Agnipath for News 9 for you.