Chennai, May 6:
Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Chief Minister M K Stalin following the DMK’s defeat in the Assembly elections. The Governor also requested the outgoing Chief Minister to continue in office until alternative arrangements are made.
Stalin will continue in office as caretaker Chief Minister until a new government is formed. The DMK suffered a crushing defeat in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, winning just 59 seats out of 234.
“The Governor of Tamil Nadu has accepted the resignation of the Chief Minister Thiru. M.K.Stalin and his Council of Ministers. The Governor has requested him to continue in office until alternate arrangements are made,” according to the press release from the Tamil Nadu Governor.
Meanwhile, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) founder and actor-politician Vijay, who ended the six-decade-long Dravidian duopoly and won the elections in a stunning fashion, has sought an appointment with Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Wednesday to formally stake his claim to form the next government.
In the recently concluded elections, Vijay’s party, TVK, emerged as the single largest party with 108 seats. However, it remains short of the majority mark of 118 seats and is expected to seek support from the Congress and other smaller parties to form the government.
Stalin has already submitted his resignation letter, which was delivered at Raj Bhavan.
In parallel, C Joseph Vijay, whose party has emerged as the single largest, formally staked a claim to form the government by writing to the Governor seeking an appointment.
According to reports, in an email sent to Raj Bhavan, Vijay said that TVK, with 108 MLAs, had secured a clear mandate as the single largest party and should be invited to form the government. He also sought a timeframe to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly.
“We are the single largest party with 108 legislators and have the right to form the government. We request an opportunity to prove our majority,” Vijay said, adding that he would prove the numbers within 15 days.
Sources indicated that the Governor is likely to invite Vijay shortly and may grant him 7 to 15 days to prove his majority, given that TVK is 10 seats short of a simple majority. The majority mark in the Tamil Nadu Assembly is 118.
Meanwhile, Vijay is expected to be elected as the TVK Legislature Party (LP) leader at a meeting of newly elected MLAs at the party headquarters in Panaiyur later in the day. Following this, he is likely to meet the Governor, submit the Leader of the Party resolution, and formally stake his claim to form the government.
Until the start of counting, Stalin and the DMK were widely expected to return to power and form a “Dravidian Model 2.0” government, based on pre-poll predictions that projected a comfortable win for the ruling alliance.
However, those forecasts were overturned by what is being described as a “youth wave” led by Vijay. In its electoral debut, TVK swept the polls, pushing the DMK and AIADMK into second and third positions respectively, with the DMK set to move into the Opposition benches.
The rout of DMK was such that Mr Stalin himself had lost from his traditional Kolathur seat, where he had won thrice in succession, and became the 3rd sitting CM, failing to get elected after Congress stalwart M Bakthavatsalam in 1967 and AIADMK Supremo J Jayalalithaa in 1996, who had lost from Sriperumbudur and Bargur seats respectively.
The TVK, which has bagged 108 of the total 234-seats, falling short of the simple majority mark of 118 by 10 seats, is all set to form the next government. Vijay–who had won from both the seats he had contested, Perambur in Chennai and Trichy East– was expected to meet the Governor and stake his claim to form the next government, leading to the swearing-in ceremony of the new regime, in the coming days.
Meanwhile, reports indicated that some parties, including the Congress, which was said to be keen to have a tie-up with TVK in the run-up to the elections, have opened channels of communication with the winning party, which was exploring all options to muster the requisite numbers. Since the Congress has won only in five seats, its backing alone would not suffice, and the TVK needs more support.
The reports also said the AIADMK, which has won 47 of the total 53 seats, too, was said to be in touch with Vijay’s party, ready to pitch in with the requisite numbers.