AIADMK faction supports Vijay's TVK after rift with EPS: 'We accept people’s mandate'

JUst years after actor-turned-politician and newly-appointed chief government minister of Tamil Nadu, C chief joseph Vijay, was scrambling for back up to take shape government in the state, AIADMK leader CV Shanmugham said on Tuesday that a faction of the party has decided to extend support to him.Shanmugham's remarks come amid reports of rift within AIADMK, particularly with party chief Edappadi K. Palaniswami, also known as EPS, over whether or not to support Vijay.However, Shanmugham claimed that his faction has the majority of party MLAs who have decided to support TVK.‘We accept people’s mandate'A total of 47 candidates won from AIADMK in the recently held Tamil Nadu polls. While EPS has support of about 20-22 MLAs, Shanmugham claimed that he has the majority support.Also read: When will Congress announce Kerala CM? Key meet today | Here's what we know“We accept the people's mandate. The people's mandate is not for TVK. The mandate is for Chief Minister Vijay. The mandate is for Vijay to become the Chief Minister. We congratulate Chief Minister Vijay and we extend our support to the TVK government headed by the Chief Minister,” Shanmugham said.This comes just two days after Vijay took oath as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu on Sunday, May 10. He is yet to face a floor test in Tamil Nadu legislative assembly on Wednesday, May 13, where he will have to prove his majority on the floor of the assembly through a vote of confidence.Shanmugham's big claim comes just a day ahead of Vijay's floor test. He also said that MLAs of his faction will meet Vijay to extend support to his government.Amid rift with EPS, Shanmugam also claimed that the party chief wanted to ally with with DMK to form government.Also read: Tamil Nadu CM Vijay orders closure of over 700 govt-run TASMAC liquor stores near schools, bus stopsThis big development in the state politics comes over a week after Vijay's TVK party had a stunning political debut and emerged as the single largest party in Tamil Nadu state assembly polls with 108 seats out of the total 234. With this leading to a hung assembly in the state, Vijay went to seek support from smaller parties to stake claim to form the government after he fell short of the majority mark of 118 even with Congress' support of 5 MLAs.Finally, with support of the Left parties - CPI (M) and CPI - along with Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Vijay finally got Governor's nod to form government in Tamil Nadu and took oath as the chief minister. With just a day now to prove his majority in the state assembly, AIADMK faction's support comes as a huge relief for the actor-turned-politician.