In Cong support for Vijay in TN, an AAP echo from Delhi and a ’90s redux: How the party backs own replacements

TAmil Nadu witnessed a historical mo on lord's day, May 10, as 'Thalapathy' Vijay, an actor-turned-politician, was sworn in as the state's 9th chief government minister — the first leader in nearly six decades with no connection to either the DMK or AIADMK, but with a crucial ally: the Indian National Congress.While Tamil Nadu has a well-worn tradition of actor-politicians, from MG Ramachandran to J Jayalalithaa, for Vijay the last five days were a rollercoaster. After his party TVK emerged as the single largest group with 108 seats, it fell short of the magic mark of 118, triggering a week of acute political uncertainty. The Congress was the first to break ranks, abandoning the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance to offer its five MLAs in support of TVK, a move that added to his momentum towards the top post.The VCK and IUML offered mixed responses before eventually lending outside support, while the CPI and CPI(M) fell into line along with the Congress. With 120 effective MLAs behind him, Vijay met Governor RV Arlekar and was sworn in on Sunday morning.Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, attended the ceremony in person. Posting on X alongside photographs of himself and Vijay at the swearing-in, Gandhi wrote: "Tamil Nadu has chosen. A new generation. A new voice. A new imagination. My good wishes to Thiru Vijay — may he fulfil the hopes of the people of Tamil Nadu."The moment carries weight well beyond protocol. For the Congress, the Tamil Nadu coalition means it remains in power in the state.But it also marks the latest chapter in a troubling pattern for the party.The Congress has historically supported emerging political forces — Arvind Kejriwal's AAP in Delhi in 2013, Mamata Banerjee's TMC in Bengal in 2011, and the Janata Dal in the late 1980s — only to later find those same parties becoming rivals or replacing it in those very spaces. With TVK's Vijay now in power, the implicit question is whether history repeats.AAP episode in DelhiBefore offering support to Vijay in Tamil Nadu, the Congress made a near-identical move in Delhi over a decade ago, with consequences it is still living with. In the December 2013 Delhi assembly elections, the incumbent Congress came a distant third, winning only eight seats against BJP's 31 and AAP's 28 in a hung assembly. With the BJP declining the Lieutenant-Governor's invitation to form a government, the Congress offered unconditional “outside support” to the AAP, specifically to keep its principal rival, which it describes as a “communal force”, from power."We respect what the people of Delhi have decided and thank them for supporting us for last 15 years," then outgoing CM Sheila Dikshit said after the 2013 Delhi result.The AAP had emerged out of an anti-Congress agitation that many believe also propelled Narendra Modi-led BJP to power at the Centre in 2014, though Kejriwal has since identified the BJP as its primary, “communal” enemy.That's a keyword. In Tamil Nadu too, the Congress offered its support to Vijay on the stated condition of keeping “communal forces” out, meaning the NDA of AIADMK and BJP.The move to support AAP in Delhi did not help the Congress as such. Not only had the Congress lost a state it had governed for 15 consecutive years, but Kejriwal's party swept back in 2015 with 67 of 70 seats, wiping the Congress out entirely; then again in 2020, before the BJP took power in 2025. The Congress has zero MLAs in Delhi as of now.The AAP, meanwhile, also emerged as a major challenger in Punjab, which it wrested from the Congress in 2022.The Congress and AAP later allied in Delhi for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but lost all seven seats to the BJP. In Punjab, they are direct adversaries as assembly elections are now barely 10 months away. The Congress-AAP equation is also one of the ironies of the INDIA bloc that came together in 2023.Similar move in BengalBefore Delhi and AAP, in 2011 the Congress entered an alliance with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress to end the Left Front's 34-year rule in West Bengal. The combine swept to a decisive win, with the TMC winning majority on its own and the Congress a junior partner.By September 2012, barely 16 months after the swearing-in, the TMC pulled out of the Congress-led UPA coalition at the national level, falling out over foreign investment rules for retail and other issues. The Congress walked out of the Bengal government.The alliance had looked somewhat natural on paper, given Mamata's Congress roots; but the split itself had been bitter. In 1997, Banerjee lost the election for state Congress president by 27 votes to Somen Mitra, and found herself losing ground in an internal tussle. The breaking point came in mid-1997 when, during a party plenary in Kolkata, she held a rival meeting just outside the venue. She was suspended from the party, and founded her own, the TMC, in January 1998. The Congress had to later play second fiddle to her over a decade later.After their 2011-12 alliance in the state, by the 2016 assembly election the contest was TMC versus a Left-Congress alliance. The TMC won again, on its own. By 2021, the BJP had displaced the Left and the Congress as the main challenger. In 2026, the BJP unseated Mamata outright, with Suvendu Adhikari, a former TMC leader, defeating Banerjee in her Bhabanipur seat. The Congress was nowhere to be seen.Janata Dal experimentA similar Congress pattern was seen after VP Singh, who served as a top minister in Rajiv Gandhi's Congress cabinet at the Centre, fell out over alleged corruption in the Bofors arms deal.He formed the Jan Morcha, then merged with others to form Janata Dal. In 1989, his National Front swept to power with outside support from BJP and the Left, ending Congress rule. The government lasted barely a year until BJP withdrew support in November 1990.That's when the Congress extended outside support to the breakaway faction under Chandra Shekhar, giving itself a brief lifeline. This pattern repeated itself in 1996-97 with HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral's brief runs as PMs.The Janata Dal eventually fragmented into the JD(U), RJD, JD(S) and other factions. Now, each of the Janata Dal factions continues to challenge or have Congress as a junior partner in their own regions.The pattern, and the questionFrom the late 1980s through to Sunday's swearing-in in Chennai, the pattern is consistent.The Congress provides the critical margin that enables a new force to cross the threshold of power. Once there, that force ceases to need Congress — and often competes with it directly.The TVK did not exist two years ago, but won roughly 35% of the popular vote in its debut, and now governs India's sixth-largest state. So far, C Joseph Vijay has professed allegiance to “secular” justice, and pitched the country's preeminent force, the BJP, as his “ideological enemy”. His alliance with the Congress, thus, may seem natural. For now.