As leaders of 24 opposition parties gathered in New Delhi on Monday for a crucial INDIA bloc meeting, the absence of actor-turned-politician C Joseph Vijay‘s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) triggered political discussion, especially because the Congress is currently supporting the party’s government in Tamil Nadu.
TVK was not invited to the opposition meeting despite its growing political prominence following the 2026 Assembly elections.
Political analysts believe that the primary reason behind TVK’s exclusion is that the party currently has no representation in Parliament and is also not a formal member of the INDIA alliance.
Meeting focused on parties with MPs
According to Congress leaders, the June 8 INDIA bloc meeting was primarily intended for opposition parties that currently have MPs in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha and are directly involved in parliamentary coordination.
The meeting is expected to focus on opposition strategy in Parliament, coordination against the BJP-led NDA government and discussions over future political planning at the national level.
The TVK has not contested a Lok Sabha election yet and therefore does not have any MPs in Parliament.
As a result, the party was not included among the invitees for the meeting held at Delhi’s Constitution Club.
According to The Indian Express report, Congress leaders reportedly clarified that parties without parliamentary representation were not invited to the gathering.
Full list of parties and leaders attending INDIA bloc meeting
- Congress : Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and KC Venugopal
- Samajwadi Party : Akhilesh Yadav
- TMC : Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee
- RJD : Tejashwi Yadav
- National Conference : Omar Abdullah
- PDP : Mehbooba Mufti
- JMM : Sarfaraz Ahmad
- Shiv Sena UBT : Uddhav Thackeray
- NCP SP : Supriya Sule
- CPM : John Brittas
- CPI : D Raja
- CPI ML : Dipankar Bhattacharya
- RSP : NK Premachandran
- IUML : Sadiq Thangal
- VCK : Thirumavalavan
- MDMK : D Vaiko
- Kerala Congress : K George
- Kerala Congress (M) : Jose K Mani
- RLP – Hanuman Beniwal
- Bharat Adivasi Party
- Lok Dal – Sunil Singh
- Forward Bloc – G Devarajan
- Shetkari Kamgar Paksh- Jayant Patil
- Independent MP : Kapil Sibal
TVK not officially part of INDIA alliance
Another major factor behind TVK’s absence is that the party has not formally joined the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc.
While Congress joined hands with TVK after the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections and currently supports the Vijay-led government in the state, that alliance remains limited to Tamil Nadu politics.
TVK has not officially become a constituent of the INDIA coalition, which was formed as a national opposition platform against the BJP. With this, it points out that Congress supporting TVK in Tamil Nadu does not automatically make Vijay’s party a member of the INDIA alliance.
Congress-DMK split complicated opposition dynamics
TVK’s absence also comes amid major political tensions in Tamil Nadu following the Assembly elections. After the polls, Congress broke away from its long-standing alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and backed Vijay’s bid to form the government, triggering sharp criticism from the DMK leadership.
The fallout significantly strained relations within the opposition camp, with the DMK later announcing that it was no longer part of the INDIA bloc and would skip the June 8 meeting.
The Congress-DMK split has emerged as one of the biggest challenges for the INDIA bloc in recent months.
Vijay trying to project TVK as independent force
It can be seen that TVK’s political positioning remains different from traditional opposition parties aligned with national coalitions.
Since entering active politics, Vijay has attempted to project TVK as an independent political force rather than fully align with any single national alliance.
Despite Congress support in Tamil Nadu, TVK has so far avoided formally integrating itself into the INDIA bloc structure.
Senior political analyst Krishnaswamy John Sundar told Financial Express Online that the development show Congress’s political priorities in Tamil Nadu.
“INDIA bloc is a combination of parties and not MPs. If TVK is not part of the meeting, that means it is clear that the Congress only wanted power in Tamil Nadu and has nothing to do with Vijay,” he said.
He further claimed that many people in Tamil Nadu now believe that TVK has effectively replaced the DMK in Congress’s political calculations within the state.
No formal break, but questions remain
While TVK’s absence from the INDIA bloc meeting has raised political questions, there has been no indication of any formal fallout between the party and Congress. However, the development shows the complicated equations emerging within opposition politics, especially after shifting alliances in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.