Amid a constitutional standoff over government formation in Tamil Nadu, veteran politician and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar has weighed in firmly on the side of Vijay, asserting that Governor Rajendra Arlekar had no legal basis to deny the actor-turned-politician's party an invitation to form the government.
Tamil Nadu's April 23 assembly elections produced a hung house for the first time in the state's history, with Vijay's newly formed Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam winning 108 seats — 10 short of the 118 required for an outright majority in the 234-member assembly. The result ended a 59-year streak of dominance by the DMK and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu politics.
Constitutional Duty, Not Discretion
Posting on X, Ambedkar argued that the governor's role in this situation is bound by constitutional obligation, not personal judgment. "The Governor cannot withhold the invitation to Vijay over his 'doubts of TVK not having majority figures'," he wrote. "Under Article 164(2), Vijay and his Council of Ministers will be required to prove their majority to the confidence of the Assembly."
To drive home his argument, Ambedkar pointed to two precedents from national politics. He recalled that after the 1989 general elections, "Congress (I) was the single largest party with 194 seats and was first invited by President Ramaswamy Venkataraman, but Rajiv Gandhi declined to form the government," after which VP Singh was invited and sworn in as prime minister.
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He also cited 1996, when the "BJP emerged as the single largest party but did not have the halfway numbers... President Shankar Dayal Sharma had invited Atal Bihari Vajpayee to form the government," though Vajpayee resigned after 13 days, unable to secure a majority.
"As the single-largest party, TVK should be rightfully invited by the Governor Rajendra Arlekar to form the government and Vijay to assume office as the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He will have to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly," Ambedkar added.
Vijay met Arlekar on Wednesday and formally staked claim to the formation of the new government, with the political situation in the state still evolving.
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