Few more steps for Vijay to climb to feel stable

If there is a balancing act that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay has undertaken, it is to assure the Congress and INDIA bloc that he is with them even as he is seen on being on chummy terms with the NDA and the Prime Minister when it comes to pushing forward the interests of the state.

Like every anti- Modi party, his TVK too took up a protest against CEC and the ‘murder of democracy’ this week. That apart, Joseph Vijay is fending barbs directed against him by the DMK and AIADMK (not to speak of BJP, which targets him on religious grounds too) that he is soft on the saffron party and is keeping a channel open to negotiate with them.

Over the past 25 years, frenemies have been part and parcel of how BJP negotiated the no man’s land with ideologically diverse regional parties all around the country. The best example is how they had a ‘working’ relationship with Naveen Patnaik even as he decimated them again and again in every elections in Odisha once he terminated his association with them.

Yet, during crucial moments in Parliament and elsewhere when the Opposition got its act together and targeted the NDA government, Patnaik had lent a subterranean support time and again. Closer home, the tenure of YSRCP led by Jagan Mohan Reddy was a similar exercise when Andhra Pradesh was seen pliant and accommodating whenever its services were requisitioned to smoothen feathers in Delhi.

Coming back to Vijay, it is understood that he does not foresee any threat of his government getting pulled down by wily opposition party leaders in Chennai. Yet he is still a few more seats away from the majority mark.

The High Court has made life easy for him agreeing to the Speaker’s decision of accepting the resignations of six AIADMK MLAs, which would mean that bypolls would be announced soon for these seats, giving a fair chance to the TVK to add them to their tally.

Analysts already see that the ‘well-meaning young man’ image that Vijay successfully capitalized on has shown some strain right during these recent bypolls. TVK had sailed to power combating its main rival which it had dubbed as ‘evil power’ in contrast to the ‘clean power’ that it represented.

By resorting to political theatre by sipping tea and a ‘contrived’ interaction with the electorate during the campaigning phase, Vijay too has been accused of resorting to political theatrics instead of showing genuine interaction. His supporters may counter this saying that he has to move at various levels to counter his political rivals but the argument that the public of Tamil Nadu are still with him took a beating with such actions, hinting at desperation to win.

Irrespective of what anti-Vijay groups keep saying, the young CM has already made his political approach a working blend of populism and a demonstrated need to change for the better with regard to governance models and administrative practices.

That the Centre has kept a working channel open with him and the top BJP leaders in Delhi are keen to interact and meet him both at the national capital and Chennai to discuss the business of running the government means a lot for both sides, currently engaged in a fierce battle to garner public attention before the 2027 poll schedule is announced.

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The Hans India