Congress set to join Tamil Nadu government after 59 years as Vijay expands cabinet tomorrow
The Congress will return to the Tamil Nadu government after nearly six decades, as Chief Minister Vijay expands his cabinet on Thursday.
Two Congress MLAs- Adv. Rajesh Kumar and P. Vishwanathan will take oath as ministers, senior party leader K. C. Venugopal announced on X.
Hon’ble INC President Sh. Mallikarjun @kharge ji has approved the induction of INC MLAs Adv. Rajesh Kumar and Thiru P. Vishwanathan into the Tamil Nadu cabinet led by CM Thiru Vijay, and they will be taking oath as Ministers tomorrow.
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) May 20, 2026
This is a historic occasion for us, as the…
Calling it a “historic occasion”, Venugopal said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had approved their induction into the cabinet.
Congress ends long exile from power in state
The move marks the Congress’s first entry into a Tamil Nadu cabinet in 59 years.
The party had been pushed to the political sidelines following the rise of Dravidian giants like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Although Congress remained a long-time ally of the DMK, it was never given representation in the state cabinet during the alliance years.
Rift with DMK changed political equations
Tensions between the Congress and the DMK had intensified ahead of the Assembly election.
The Congress had sought cabinet berths in case of a victory and reportedly demanded 41 seats. However, the DMK refused to go beyond its offer of 20-plus constituencies.
The party was also believed to be upset after Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam allegedly offered a far more generous arrangement during back-channel negotiations.
After the elections, the Congress — which won five of the 27 seats it contested — broke away from the DMK and extended support to Vijay’s TVK government, which emerged as the single largest force but fell short of a majority.
TVK invites more allies into government
Earlier today, senior TVK leader and minister Aadhav Arjuna said the ruling party had invited allies to formally join the government.
He said TVK had invited Thol. Thirumavalavan and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi to become part of the Council of Ministers.
The Indian Union Muslim League has also been invited to join the cabinet.
Arjuna added that while the Congress agreed to join the government, the Left parties — the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) — would continue extending outside support to the Vijay-led administration.
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