Governor invites Vijay to form Govt
After producing support letters, showing support of 120 MLAs, Governor RV Arlekar on Saturday appointed C Joseph Vijay as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and the swearing-in ceremony will take place at Nehru Stadium on Sunday at 10 am. The Governor has asked TVK chief Vijay to prove a majority in three days.
Vijay was appointed CM after he presented letters of support from the VCK and the IUML, who have two MLAs each. The Governor held talks for about an hour over the requisite support. According to a Lok Bhavan press release, Vijay was appointed the chief minister by Governor Arlekar as per the provisions of the Constitution. The governor also invited Vijay to form a ministry. Further, Arlekar asked Vijay to seek the vote of confidence on or before May 13.
The TVK chief met the Governor along with Congress PCC chief K Selvaperunthagai and leaders of supporting parties, including the CPI(M) State Secretary P Shanmugam.
Taking into account support from VCK and IUML, who have 2 seats each, the TVK’s seat tally has now touched 120 in the 234-member Assembly. VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan announced his party’s decision to support Vijay’s TVK in Government formation to prevent President’s rule in Tamil Nadu and also ensure people’s mandate for TVK was fulfilled.
Due to the prevailing uncertainty in Government formation, especially with the TVK lacking the simple majority to form the Government, and no other political party anywhere close to the magic number of 118 seats, it was necessary to support the TVK in its efforts to form the Government, Thirumavalavan said.
“Our ties with the DMK will not get affected due to our stand, but it will help Vijay to form the Government and also prevent the President’s rule in the State,” Thirumavalavan said at a crowded press conference.
He added that he continued in DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance. His party’s stance was already conveyed to DMK chief MK Stalin, who had agreed to the unanimous decision of the VCK and the Left parties, he said.
Shortly after VCK’s decision to back Vijay, another DMK ally, the IUML also extended support to TVK. Both IUML and VCK have two MLAs each. With the two small parties’ support, the numbers in favour of TVK rose to 120, including 5 from the Congress, just two more than the simple majority mark of 118 in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly. Both CPI and CPI (M) won two seats each respectively, while the TVK on its own secured 108 seats in the Assembly elections held on April 23. The results were declared on May 4. Vijay, who has won from two segments, has to resign from one of them, which brings down the party’s strength to 107.
