Actor-politician Vijay on Wednesday delivered the most emphatic signal yet that his Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) intends to go it alone in the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly election, declaring himself the party’s chief ministerial candidate and framing the contest as a “direct fight” with the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
In his first public address since 41 people died in a stampede at his September rally in Karur — an episode that rattled his fledgling political project — Vijay told party workers that the tragedy was a “temporary setback” engineered by hostile political rivals and badly handled by the state administration. He spoke for 14 minutes at the party’s Special General Council meet in Mamallapuram, reading extensively from Supreme Court observations that transferred the case to the CBI to argue that neither he nor his organisation was at fault.
“When nature and God in the form of the people of Tamil Nadu stand with us, who can stop our political activities?” Vijay said, drawing loud applause. “I repeat, the 2026 contest is only between two parties — TVK and DMK. We will win 100 per cent.”
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The General Council simultaneously passed a resolution naming him the CM nominee and authorising him to decide on potential partners — a formality that underscored the party’s decision to stay out of alliances for its debut election bid.
The announcement jolts opposition arithmetic. Leaders in the AIADMK and the BJP had made sustained overtures to woo Vijay and project him as a youth face against the DMK. AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami even called the appearance of TVK flags at his rallies “the first step” to a partnership. Senior functionaries in the party publicly invited Vijay to “save his political future” by joining hands.
Instead, Vijay’s message on Wednesday was blunt: he would neither lean on established parties nor play second fiddle. “There is no way a person with huge popularity like Vijay can join an alliance and work under another politician,” a TVK leader said. “Contest alone, that’s the only way to measure his strength.”
Vijay turned his address into a direct indictment of CM M K Stalin, accusing him of “narrow-minded” political attacks, mishandling police permissions for his events, restricting his movements, and launching a smear campaign after the Karur tragedy.
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“There have been places other than Karur where permission was always uncertain. We would ask for a safe spacious venue; they gave unsafe ones,” Vijay said. “Conditions on me were imposed on no other leader in India — sit inside the bus, do not wave from the rooftop.
