The Congress broke its longstanding alliance with the DMK this week to join hands with the newly formed Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam — prompting accusation of “backstabbing” and fresh cracks within the INDIA bloc. All key allies of the DMK have now abandoned their pre-poll agreements to join TVK in forming the government. But the alliance becomes easier to understand in light of the ‘shared history’ between Vijay and Rahul Gandhi. 

Ties between the Vijay and the Congress date back nearly 17 years — to when the actor met Rahul Gandhi and sparked immediate buzz about joining the party as a youth leader. The omission of DMK is also understandable when one recalls Vijay dubbing the party a “political enemy” in his first speech after forming TVK. As things currently stand, the DMK has been relegated to the Opposition benches while the Communist Party of India, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and Communist Party of India (Marxist) will all be part of the TVK-led government.

The meeting between Rahul Gandhi and Vijay gained fresh focus this week amid the political upheaval in Tamil Nadu. The actor and his father (film director SA Chandrasekar) had met Gandhi at his residence in August 2009 and spoken for nearly an hour. An excerpt from a subsequent presser was shared by the Indian Youth Congress on social media on Wednesday. 

“One of my well-wishers reached out from Rahul Gandhi’s side. He asked me to come and meet him. I thought this is a good opportunity…not everyone gets a chance like this…I’m not such a big person that I can just go meet Rahul Gandhi any time. So I felt that I shouldn’t miss it. One day, my father and I cancelled all our shoots and went to Delhi,” Vijay can be heard explaining in the video.

The ideological overlap between the two leaders has also become a talking point following the elections — with significant alignment on social harmony and welfare-related issues. The similarities were perhaps visible more strongly when they met in 2009. 

When Vijay met Rahul Gandhi in Delhi

The meeting took place at the very end of August 2009 — sparking widespread speculation that the actor would soon join the Congress party. Multiple news reports had suggested at the time that Vijay could be tapped to head the Tamil Nadu Youth Congress. Gandhi had ventured into politics in the mid-2000s and led the Indian Youth Congress at the time of this meeting. Reports from 2009 suggest he had been working to improve the Congress presence in Tamil Nadu and tried briefly to rope in actor Vijayakanth.

The actor later told reporters during a press conference that it had been a “wonderful” albeit unexpected meeting. The duo had reportedly discussed politics, cinema, his (at the time) newly launched grassroots social welfare organisation Makkal Iyakkam and the Vijay fan club.

“There is a lot of speculation in the media and I would have been only happy if it were true. I was surprised when I was asked to meet Mr. Gandhi. I am not a big person. But I thought it was a good opportunity, because he is a leader who brought about changes and ensured a great victory for the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls,” he told reporters in September 2009.

Why did Vijay not join Congress in 2009?

Claims about Vijay joining the Congress appeared to be nearly confirmed in 2009 — with several publications reporting that he would be inducted in early September. But claims about a political debut on September 9 never materialised. Days later, the actor issued a clarification dismissing reports about political involvement and told reporters that he would be concentrating on films. Vijay said there had been no discussion about getting him a position in the Congress during talks with Gandhi.

The actor had hinted at the possibility of a future plunge into politics during this presser. Vijay also broached the possibility of converting his (then) newly launched Makkal Iyakkam movement into a political outfit. It is pertinent to note that this network provided the foundational base for his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam political party nearly 17 years later.

Gandhi had been working to rejuvenate the Youth Congress and leading a massive restructuring bid at this time. He had spent much of 2009 pushing for an end to ‘nomination culture’ and sought mandatory internal elections for those seeking a post within the Youth Congress. Contradictory reports exist about the role envisioned for Vijay within the Congress — with some suggesting he would have been tapped to lead the Tamil Nadu unit of the Youth Congress. Other reports suggested Vijay was seeking only membership within the Congress. But it remains unclear how either scenario would have meshed with his Vijay Makkal Iyakkam and its roughly 5.5 crore members and officials (this is the present day figure)..

As Vijay noted during the clarifying press conference in September 2009: “Rahul Gandhi is targeting the youth and I am also concentrating on mobilising the youth…In the future I would join hands with a government that will work for the welfare of the Tamils.”

The DMK factor

The DMK-Congress tie-up in Tamil Nadu has lasted several decades (with notable intermissions) and played a key role in political decisions. The two parties were strong allies during the UPA era — lending 18 Lok Sabha MPs to the coalition government. Indeed the UPA-II government was reduced to a minority after the DMK withdrew support in March 2013 over the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils. The party was also the only ‘gateway’ for Congress into south India.

Unverified reports from 2009 suggest that the potential political baptism of Vijay had been met with resistance from the DMK. Veterans allude to a short-lived ‘cold war’ between the actor and the local administration with his films facing the possibility of a blockage. While this remains unconfirmed, it is a fact that his film Vettaikkaaran (unreleased at that time) was distributed by Sun Pictures — part of Sun Group established by Kalanithi Maran — in India. Vijay had seen multiple films pass by with middling success and his future as a star hinged on Vettaikkaaran at this time.

More than a decade later, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam positioned itself as a third ‘alternative’ to both DMK and AIADMK during the 2026 Assembly elections. Vijay had previously tagged the BJP as an “ideological enemy” and the DMK as a “political enemy” during his maiden public speech in October 2024.