Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s government has faced severe political turbulence in its first 60 days, with the principal opposition, the DMK, accused of trying to destabilise it through counter-horse-trading. Yet the more telling story of these two months isn’t Vijay’s turbulence. It’s the DMK and AIADMK’s silence after their double defeat. Both parties, so used to alternating power in Tamil Nadu for nearly six decades, have gone into a lull. Vijay, on the other hand, has gone aggressive even after winning.
Vijay, a calm, cultured persona, has suddenly found an animal spirit — the kind that belongs in a cinematic blockbuster. He has piloted his government well, flying above the dark clouds and switching off the seatbelt sign from the cockpit. That, at least, is how Vijay’s supporters and analysts read his handling of his clashes with the Dravidian giants. And it is yielding him steady advantages.
TVK still has no organisational strength
The biggest cloud Vijay faces is his own unsettled party organisation, which still has loose ends everywhere. He faces this discomfort on two fronts. Nearly 75 per cent of the AIADMK’s top leadership has joined the TVK, but Vijay still treats former CM Edappadi Palaniswami as his chief rival within that camp. On the other front, he is up against his real political challenger — Udhayanidhi Stalin, Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
In 60 days, Vijay has handled both fronts capably. He is now recasting himself as the leader of a multi-party alliance built on the same broad ideology, but stitched together with old-fashioned Dravidian-era allies. Vijay is not consolidating; he is expanding. He remains the most unchallenged leader in Tamil Nadu today; no opposition figure comes close to him, which amounts to Vijay’s fourth gear in an F1 race.
Also read: Vijay is set to destroy the old, dominant Dravidianism of Tamil Nadu politics
Setting the fiscal house in order, first
Vijay moved early to get a grip on Tamil Nadu’s fiscal position, commissioning a White Paper that even drew appreciation from Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He has also extended a hand of cordiality to Prime Minister Narendra Modi — ideologically his adversary — while carefully framing the relationship as strictly Centre-state. In his maiden Assembly speech, Vijay positioned himself as a torchbearer of “Tamil Nadu first,” a deliberate echo of Modi’s “India first,” while making clear he will knock on anyone’s door for the state’s development.
Even as this plays out, in Delhi, Governor RV Arlekar has spent time with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. It’s a reminder that Vijay’s government, formed on a razor-thin majority, remains under the Centre’s watch as well.
Horse-trading charges, old and new
Horse-trading allegations have flown thick and fast between the ruling TVK and the opposition DMK, each accusing the other of trying to poach MLAs. TVK has alleged that former DMK minister V Senthil Balaji was working to topple the government; the DMK, in turn, complained to the Governor and the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) that Vijay and MDMK’s Vaiko had conspired to poach two DMK MLAs.
The fight has only escalated. Chennai police have now arrested three people, allegedly linked to Senthil Balaji’s brother, for attempting to bribe a sitting TVK MLA with Rs 35 crore to either vote against a no-confidence motion or defect outright. The TVK government has responded not by playing defence but by going after Senthil Balaji itself, reopening cases from his tenure as electricity and transport minister, including the cash-for-jobs scam and a Rs 397-crore transformer procurement case. This is Vijay’s animal spirit at work — not just surviving the DMK’s moves, but turning every attack into a fresh offensive.
Also read: Vijay will rewrite Tamil Nadu politics. Get ready for long-term dominance
Vijay is confident on alliance matters
Vijay has chaired meetings with his “friendly parties,” asking allies not to worry about the government’s stability and expressing confidence in completing a full term. The next real test, though, is his maiden Budget. He has begun sector-wise consultations with officials and industry leaders alike. For a star performer like Vijay, quick reflexes are practically a gift. His government is expected to present a Budget designed to please every section by early August.
On both the financial and political fronts, Vijay has leaned on P Chidambaram’s counsel — a nod to the two Tamil Nadu-origin giants who have presented Union Budgets, Chidambaram and Sitharaman. In two months, Vijay has built up considerable stamina: two meetings with PM Modi, a NITI Aayog appearance, and a combative Assembly. But his real test remains how effectively he can blunt Udhayanidhi’s rise as the face of the opposition — both among voters and inside the Assembly.
Copying Modi’s playbook, quietly
Vijay’s personal ties with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi go back two decades. Ideologically, he describes himself as a centrist, and in Gandhi’s presence, he has made it explicit that TVK stands for transparency, with authority resting solely with Vijay himself. Yet even as he says this, Vijay is mapping his own 25-year power plan onto Modi’s — the same slow, deliberate consolidation.
Just as Modi styled himself a “Pradhan Sevak,” Vijay has called himself a “sevakan” — a servant of the public. Just as Modi ran on “Congress-mukt Bharat” in 2023, Vijay in 2026 has proclaimed his ambition to decimate both Dravidian parties: “Kazhagam illadha Tamil Nadu”. His arithmetic supports his ambition as he builds toward a standalone TVK majority in the Assembly.
Before the polls, Vijay was shrewd enough to bring smaller parties on board, which many dismissed at the time. After the results, most of the DMK’s own post-poll allies fell in line behind his mammoth win, sidestepping any talk of a reelection. The second calculation was just as deliberate: keeping the BJP from gaining a foothold of its own.
TVK holds 108 of 234 seats in the Assembly, but Vijay won his confidence vote 144-22 — 36 votes more than his own party’s strength. It’s the same trick Modi has run at the Centre, stretching a 240-MP tally into working majorities by pulling in regional partners.
The real story
Sixty days in, Vijay has reformed and performed to hold his own against two Dravidian giants at once. But the more consequential development is the one playing out in the background: the DMK and AIADMK, still processing their defeat, have gone quiet. Vijay hasn’t given them room to recover—his animal spirits are trained squarely on ensuring Udhayanidhi Stalin never gets the runway to emerge as Tamil Nadu’s next big challenger.
R Rajagopalan is a veteran journalist and a political analyst. He tweets @RAJAGOPALAN1951. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)