Vijay is chief ministerial candidate, declares TVK

Chennai| Actor politician Vijay, founder-chief of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), will be its chief ministerial candidate for the 2026 Assembly election, the fledgling party announced on Friday.

A special resolution was adopted at the party's executive committee meeting in this regard.

Also, it has proposed to hold a state conference on a large scale, next month and public meetings in villages to disseminate the party's ideology.

Speaking on the occasion, Vijay said that his party would never form an alliance with either the ruling DMK or the BJP.

"The BJP wants to divide people on religious lines for cheap political gains. There will be no direct or indirect alliance with our policy opponents and divisive forces. I firmly state that we will not have any truck with either the DMK or the BJP," he said.

Also, he flayed the DMK government over the proposal for establishing a Greenfield airport for Chennai at Parandur, and said the move would displace several thousands of families and severely affect agriculture in the neighbourhood.

Vijay criticised Chief Minister M K Stalin for not visiting the people at Parandur and said "they are also our people… If you don’t go and meet the people of Parandur area, then I am willing to bring them to meet you at the Secretariat."

The executive meeting authorised Vijay to decide on alliance and also resolved to undertake a membership campaign to enroll two crore members.

Vijay would undertake a statewide tour from September to December to meet voters and garner support for the party.

A resolution called upon the Centre to retrieve Katchatheevu islet from Sri Lanka, while another flayed the Union government for attempting to ‘cover up’ the findings at Keezhadi that established an urban civilisation over 2,000 years ago.

Another resolution condemned the BJP government at the Centre over the ‘treatment’ of farmers during their protest in New Delhi. It also urged the state government to give up the proposal to establish the SIPCOT industrial expansion project at Melma.

The TVK would take up the cause of the mango farmers in the state, said a resolution read out by the party president at the meeting held in Panayur.