‘Vijay can win if TVK goes it alone’
Mar 2, 2025, 0:11 IST
Chennai: Actor Vijay stands a good chance to win Tamil Nadu if TVK goes it alone in the 2026 assembly election, according to poll strategist Prashant Kishor.
"Let him (Vijay) start and we'll see next six, eight months and then we'll make a public announcement whether we are going all alone or we would have somebody as an ally. I am not seeing any alliance right now. At least not till Dec. As things stand we are going it alone," Kishor said in an interview to a Tamil channel.
Edappadi K Palaniswami's AIADMK, however, approached him for "an association" said Kishor. He said the AIADMK wants to unite the anti-DMK vote and is engaged in traditional politics of bringing everyone together to defeat the rival arithmetically. But Kishor said neither Vijay nor he is looking at it. Kishor, who quit being a poll strategist and floated the Jan Suraaj Party four years ago, was present at the TVK event to mark the beginning of its second year.
"My understanding and data suggest that if Vijay goes it alone, he stands a very good chance to win TN provided he puts an effort and a number of hours and we are together able to build a political infrastructure around him. He genuinely wants to bring about a change in TN," Kishor said.
Rejecting the narrative that Vijay would have to forge an alliance with the AIADMK to have any impact and to get a sizeable number of seats given the DMK's formidable alliance, Kishor said poll arithmetic was not guaranteed. "I am looking at Vijay and TN politics as it stands today. I see there is a huge gap. A vast section of society is looking for a new, cleaner, and fresher alternative. Vijay fits the bill," he said. On why the actor was not harsh on his ideological enemy, the BJP, unlike against the DMK, Kishor said BJP was neither a force in TN nor governing it.
Kishor, who was the poll strategist for DMK in the 2021 assembly election, said DMK alliance was facing huge anti-incumbency. What if Stalin is projected as the face of DMK? "Even if it is, no one can deny a huge anti-incumbency. There's substantial erosion in the DMK alliance vote share, and a large chunk of that vote came based on being a "secular, anti-BJP, anti-Delhi party", he said. He charged DMK with creating "a fear psychosis against BJP and Delhi" whether it is sanatana dharma, delimitation or language policy.
Kishor acknowledged that he was not an advisor to Vijay but a ‘friend and brother'. Vijay would be free after his last film assignment and would become a full-time politician.
"I am committed to help, and I am sure he is committed to help me in Bihar as well," Kishor said, adding that the actor had a huge following in Bihar and could help Jan Suraaj by making an appearance and campaigning for the party. The assembly election in Bihar is scheduled to be held later this year.
