The TVK versus Congress over PM face for 2029 for a fresh fillip on Wednesday with the senior Tamil Nadu Congress leader explicit, saying alliance partners must accept Rahul Gandhi as the PM face.
“Allies have to accept Rahul Gandhi as PM face. If not, what is the necessity to be in alliance?
Selvaperunthagai said, adding that the Congress should have an alliance only with parties that “openly and transparently” accept Rahul Gandhi as its PM face. He said there was “no confusion” within the TVK-Congress alliance and pointed to the recent coordination meeting at which the alliance’s name was discussed and finalised.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also responded to the TVK’s Vijay-for-PM pitch, arguing that individual parties can project their leaders but that the Prime Minister ultimately emerges from the parliamentary numbers after a Lok Sabha election.
“Every party will praise and have aspirations for their own leaders,” Chidambaram said, but added that the Prime Minister would have to be the leader of a party or formation capable of commanding the support of a majority of MPs in the Lok Sabha. He described this as the “political reality” of Indian parliamentary democracy and said regional parties expressing their “love and affection” for their leaders was not necessarily the same as the parliamentary arithmetic required to form a government.
