A day after hosting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for lunch and coffee at a cafe, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay on Saturday shared a metro ride and a temple visit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the political balancing act between his key ally and the BJP-led government at the Centre.
PM Modi, who flagged off Chennai Metro Rail Phase II, was accompanied by Vijay on a metro ride and a visit to a temple on the IIT Madras campus. The Prime Minister was in Chennai to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for projects worth around Rs 13,000 crore.
The contrasting engagements come amid a chorus of “Vijay for PM” by the TVK and added to the Congress’s discomfort with his growing national ambitions.
Today, it was a government function and yesterday it was a political meeting with Rahul, and that displayed their friendship,” he said. At the same time, Vijay has called the BJP his party’s ideological enemy. But as Chief Minister, he must work with the Union government on funds, schemes and investments. His government has avoided framing its relationship with the Centre as inherently adversarial. Even in its response to Rahul Gandhi’s arrest, TVK did not explicitly name the BJP or the Centre. “We are clear. We climb down only for the welfare and development of Tamil Nadu. “As Prime Minister, I have worked with Jayalalithaa, EPS and Stalin. For Vijay, the challenge is to accommodate the Congress’s national ambitions while keeping his own options open and maintaining a working relationship with a Prime Minister he describes as leading an ideological adversary.
Despite change of guards, my determination to work for Tamil Nadu’s growth continues as I now work with Chief Minister Vijay,” he said.
