Chennai: Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) founder Vijay went to the Lok Bhavan on Thursday, May 7, for a second time in 24 hours to meet the Governor in connection with his request to be invited to form the government with the support the Congress party, even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asserted that Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar will go by the rule book on the matter.
While Vijay went to the Lok Bhavan, there was no immediate word from officials or the TVK on whether he met Arlekar and if the TVK founder had been invited to form the government or not.
In his second visit to the Lok Bhavan within 24 hours, the TVK chief was inside the Governor’s House for about 40 minutes before he was seen leaving the premises.
The TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly in the April 23 polls and emerged as the single largest party. Though the Congress party, which has five MLAs, has extended support to TVK, the actor-politician-led party was still short of as many seats to touch the magic number of 118, the majority mark in the 200-plus member House.
Meanwhile, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader Thol Thirumavalavan said that his party received a request from TVK for support and the high-level committee of his party will decide whether to support the Vijay-led party to form the government.
“We received the request letter from TVK. We are thankful for that. We have not ignored his (Vijay’s) request. We have a procedure. Therefore, our party’s high-level committee will decide soon. We are going to discuss the merits and demerits of our position,” the VCK leader told reporters here.
Met Governor a day earlier
On Wednesday, May 6, Vijay submitted the letter of support from the Congress party to the governor and staked claim. However, Arlekar is yet to take a decision on the matter, according to official sources.
To a question on swearing-in and government formation, TVK leader VS Babu told reporters, “Let us see, this will happen soon and let us see what the next is.”
When asked about the alleged pressure from the Centre, he said he would not comment on matters over which he had no idea. “I will not talk about things that I do not know.”
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Narayanan Tirupathy claimed that everything will happen in a democratic way vis-a-vis government formation. “I don’t think there is any confusion with Raj (Lok) Bhavan or the governor. He (governor) will go by the constitution. He will go by rule book”, the BJP leader told PTI Videos.
“The way the people have cast their votes reflects this outcome. Consequently, the electorate has voted in such a way that no single party has secured an absolute majority”, he added.
