Charting a Lone Path

By rejecting both Dravidian titans and the BJP, Tamil superstar Vijay is gambling on a third front of his own making.

Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu’s unruly political theatre, a new protagonist has been scripting his own role for some time now. Actor-turned-politician Vijay, known to legions simply as ‘Thalapathy’ (commander), recently made it official that his party - the TamilagaVettriKazhagam (TVK) - will contest the 2026 state assembly election solo, with Vijay himself as its chief ministerial candidate.

This resolution, passed unanimously at the TVK’s executive committee meeting last week, sets the stage for a dramatic confrontation with Tamil Nadu’s entrenched duopoly - the DMK and AIADMK - while firmly rebuffing the overtures of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “TVK is neither DMK nor AIADMK to shake hands with BJP for selfish political interests,” Vijay declared, adding that his party would never forge an alliance (direct or indirect) with “ideological enemies and divisive forces.”

It was a message steeped in regional pride and political morality. In a state that has long resisted the saffron party’s ideological expansionism, Vijay’s rhetoric struck a chord. He accused the BJP of stoking communal tensions and attempting to undermine Tamil Nadu’s foundational values of social justice and secularism, invoking Dravidian icons such as Periyar and C.N. Annadurai to underline his point.

With these remarks, Vijay appears to have drawn a red line between himself and the BJP, whose alliance with the AIADMK remains uneasy and transactional. While Union Home Minister Amit Shah has declared that the next Tamil Nadu government would be formed by the BJP-AIADMK combine, he conspicuously stopped short of naming a chief ministerial candidate. AIADMK chief Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) has been trying to reassert his party’s primacy, insisting that any alliance will be led by the AIADMK and warning that “no party, however big, can dominate it.”

The BJP has long been seeking to script its own Tamil Nadu story, with or without the Dravidian parties. Its overt courtship of popular figures such as Vijay has long been rumoured, and the AIADMK has kept the doors open. “All those who wish to oust the DMK are welcome,” EPS had remarked coyly, when asked about Vijay’s TVK.

However, that door now appears firmly shut. Not only has Vijay rejected the BJP, but TVK’s general secretary for propaganda and policy, K.G. Arunraj, has ruled out any alliance with the AIADMK even in a post-BJP configuration. In Arunraj’s view, the people of Tamil Nadu are yearning for an alternative that is not merely anti-incumbent but transformative.

For now, that vision remains aspirational. TVK has yet to prove its electoral mettle. Vijay’s political brand, though undeniably powerful, is still untested at the ballot box. The party plans to enrol 20 million members, hold 12,500 grassroots meetings and launch a state-wide outreach tour from September through December.

Vijay has also demonstrated a willingness to move beyond platitudes and into policy terrain. He slammed the DMK government’s land acquisition push for the controversial Parandur airport project, calling it “state terrorism” and vowing to lead a march to the secretariat unless the chief minister responded to affected farmers. In another resolution, TVK demanded that M.K. Stalin resign as home minister over a custodial death, citing moral responsibility.

By attacking the DMK on governance and the BJP on ideology, and by refusing the embrace of the AIADMK, Vijay is attempting to carve out a credible third force. His challenge is formidable. The state’s electorate has long oscillated between the DMK and AIADMK, each buoyed by decades of incumbency, welfare legacies and entrenched patronage networks.

But in Tamil Nadu, charisma can also translate into currency. Vijay, whose fan base spans generations and districts, may have just enough of it to make a dent. For now, Vijay’s script is bold and his entry is at a timely juncture. Whether he emerges as hero or footnote will depend on whether Tamil Nadu’s voters are ready to turn the page.