Vijay to swear in as CM soon, Governor gives permission to form government; More parties support

CHENNAI: Reports say actor Vijay is likely to swear in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu tomorrow. Rajendra Arlekar, who is in charge of the Governor of Tamil Nadu, gave permission to take oath. Vijay got permission for the oath-taking a little while ago after a half-hour meeting with the Governor. It is learnt that Vijay informed the Governor that he has a clear majority to form the cabinet.

Meanwhile, VCK, which has two seats, has expressed support for Vijay. Currently, Vijay is four seats short of an absolute majority. An absolute majority requires the support of 118 people. The Governor gave the permission while the party and the Congress were moving to approach the Supreme Court against the Governor's decision not to invite the TVK (Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam), the largest single party in the state, to form the government.

Yesterday, Vijay had met the Governor and sought permission to form the ministry. It was informed that he would prove his majority within 14 days. However, the Governor's stand was that the oath-taking was sufficient after proving the majority. Congress has announced support for TVK. Vijay had sent a letter to secure the support of VCK, CPM and CPI parties, which have two seats each. Unofficial talks have begun with PMK, which is in the NDA.

There are reports that Vijay has rejected the demand to make Dharmapuri MLA and wife of PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss, who has four seats, Soumya, the deputy chief minister. Meanwhile, the demand to support TVK has also been raised in the AIADMK. The pressure is on the party's general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami.