Vijay Takes Baby Steps into Politics

Chennai: Actor Vijay, who declared his political aspirations and announced the name of his party as Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) earlier this year but kept out of the race in the Lok Sabha election, has seemingly started taking baby steps towards a political entry by organising a felicitation for top scorers in the tenth and twelfth standard school final examinations in each and every Assembly constituency of the State.

He would be meeting those constituency toppers in two batches, one on June 28 and the other on July 3 at the Sri Ramachandra Convention Centre in Thiruvanmiyur, a statement from Vijay on Monday said. In fact, he gave an indication of his political entry through last year’s event to felicitate school toppers by choosing them on the basis of Assembly seats.

But before the Lok Sabha elections he had clarified that he would be focusing on the 2026 Assembly elections and not the Parliament elections and was working in the background preparing the ground for a dramatic political entry.

Though he would like to formally reach out to the people of the constituencies through the felicitation meetings, he is also said to be talking to Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) chief coordinator Seeman for a possible electoral alliance.

Now that the NTK has garnered eight per cent of the votes in the Lok Sabha polls, Vijay is said to be interested in clinching the alliance as he hopes to have a 20 per cent support for him. So, together both the parties could give the traditional parties like the DMK, AIADMK and BJP a run for their money, he is said to believe.

In Vijay’s scheme of things, since his followers are predominantly the youth, he would like to rope in experienced people, too, and it is under that plan that Seeman could be a potential ally. The NTK’s presence in all the towns and villages of the State could also help Vijay to popularize his party, the TVK, all through the State.

Together, Vijay and Seeman may form the fourth alliance in the State and could take on the other three coalitions led by the DMK, AIADMK and BJP in the Assembly polls. The idea is to harness the anti-establishment sentiments among the youth and paint all the three existing coalitions as bad and corrupt, presenting the untested coalition of TVK and NTK as a potential alternative.

Seeman had already expressed interest in aligning with Vijay openly and it is said that he had given up on his no-alliance policy in the interest of electoral politics. In the 2021 elections though the AIADMK was not averse to an alliance with the NTK, Seeman did not want to have any tie-up with a Dravidian party.

But now, it is learnt that beyond the Dravidian majors that he had been bad mouthing all these years he would like to explore other parties for a tie-up. Since openly supporting the BJP might not be rewarding in the State, the TVK could be the alternative he was looking for. And for Vijay, a political novice, an experienced Seeman could be a pillar of support.