Thalapathy has the magic number: Vijay meets Governor, this time with 118+, for invite to form TN govt

AMid some reports that C chief joseph Vijay's company TVK was preparation to displace margaret court for the Governor's green signal to form the new state government of Tamil Nadu, the actor-turned-politician may finally have the magic number — 118 — in the House of 234, as of Friday evening, May 8.Vijay also met Governor RV Arlekar again over the government-formation issue a third time in three days, but it was not yet clear if he had got the formal invite.What's the hold-up?His Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) ended up with 108 seats and became the single largest party, yet short of the majority mark by 10, in the poll results of May 4.Follow: Live updates hereHowever, it is now close to certain that Vijay will soon take oath as the next chief minister as he now appears to have 118, and probably even 120, MLAs on his side, after the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) also backed the TVK with its two MLAs on Friday, just ahead of the meeting with Arlekar.TVK has the support of the Congress with its five MLAs; plus two Left parties with two seats each, meaning four from them. The VCK, with two seats, had not formally declared support but is set to back Vijay, it is learnt.These parties were all allies of the incumbent DMK, but have since backed the TVK statedly to “keep communal forces out”, a reference to the AIADMK-BJP alliance.Math finally works out?TVK's total thus — its own 108, the Congress's five; the VCK, CPI and CPI(M) with six together, plus the IUML's two — may go up to 121.Since Vijay, known as Thalapathy or ‘commander’ among his fans, has won two seats, and has to vacate one, the number would be 120.If the VCK is not yet formally counted, the number hits the required 118 anyway.The CPI and CPI (M) have already extended formal support to Vijay, while the VCK is to announce its decision on Saturday. Vijay also visited the CPI state headquarters to thank the leaders for their support.Delay by Governor ‘a strange situation’The CPI has been criticising Governor Arlekar for not inviting the single largest party to form the government. Party general secretary D Raja said on Friday, “The Governor must go by the established practices and conventions in our multi-party parliamentary democracy. He should invite the single largest party and allow that party to form the government. This we have made it very clear. In the interest of Tamil Nadu, to have a stable, secular government, our party has decided to extend support to Mr Vijay, the leader of TVK.”Congress MP Jebi Mather seconded D Raja's opinion and called it a "standard process" for the Governor to invite the party with the highest number of MLAs to form a government.She further alleged a "hidden agenda" behind the delay. "It is a strange situation where, despite having such significant numbers and a clear mandate, there appears to be an agenda behind these delays," she said.She also affirmed that DMK and Congress shared a “strong bond”.The DMK has not taken kindly to the Congress breaking ranks to back Vijay."Everyone should understand that if this (delay) is an attempt to push a BJP agenda, when the BJP holds only a single seat... The appropriate course of action is to respect the people's mandate and allow the process to move forward by giving the TVK an opportunity. While the Congress and DMK have shared a strong bond, the DMK must also recognise that preventing non-secular forces from joining hands is the need of the hour," Mather said, as per news agency ANI.