Communist Party of India leader D Raja on Friday urged Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar to invite actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to form the government as the single-largest party in the Assembly and allow it to prove its majority on the floor of the House, PTI reported.
His remarks came a day after the governor, for the second consecutive day, declined Vijay’s proposal to form the government. Arlekar reportedly asked him to return only after securing the support of 118 MLAs, the majority mark in the 234-member Assembly.
The governor was quoted as saying by ANI that the TVK chief had claimed that his party had the majority required to form the government.
The tenure of the current Tamil Nadu Assembly ends on Saturday.
The TVK, on its electoral debut, on Monday emerged as the single-largest party in the Tamil Nadu elections, winning 108 seats. However, it fell short of the majority mark.
The Congress, which won five seats in the elections, declared its support to Vijay on Wednesday. Even with Congress’ support, the TVK still falls short of the majority mark by five seats.
On Thursday, Vidhuthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol Thirumavalavan, whose party won two seats in the polls, said that Vijay had called him to seek support to form the government.
However, he did not clarify whether the party would support the TVK, saying that the VCK and the Left parties would discuss the matter before taking a decision together.
The CPI and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) won two seats each in the polls. The VCK, the CPI and the CPI (Marxist) are part of the alliance led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
The MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam won 59 constituencies in the Assembly elections. The National Democratic Alliance, mainly comprising the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party, won 53 seats.
On Friday, Raja said that a TVK-led government should be allowed to prove its majority in the Assembly and “not in the halls or corridors of the governors’ residence”.
“The governor should not create any hurdle in the process by referring to discretionary powers and such things,” PTI quoted Raja as saying. “The governor should follow the established practices and conventions on such issues.”
Also read:
- Tamil Nadu: After defeat in the Assembly polls, Dravidian parties face unprecedented crisis
- How did Vijay break the Dravidian duopoly? And what lies ahead for Tamil Nadu?
- As Vijay’s TVK storms Tamil Nadu house, voters explain why they chose ‘fresh batter for their dosas’
- ‘Vijay opened people’s eyes’: In Chennai, jubilation outside one party office, heartbreak at another
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