A 'Jackpot' For Congress: TN Chief Minister Vijay Announces Allotment Of Rajya Sabha Seat

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay on Wednesday announced that the vacant Rajya Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu will be allotted to the Congress party.

Congress leaders met Vijay today and submitted a request to have the Rajya Sabha seat allotted to their party. A delegation led by Girish Chodankar, the All India Congress Committee in-charge for Tamil Nadu, met Vijay in person and formally requested that the Rajya Sabha seat be allocated to the Congress party.

Following the Congress party's request, Vijay announced that the vacant Rajya Sabha seat would indeed be allotted to the Congress. The Congress party currently holds 5 seats in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Furthermore, two members from the party—Rajesh Kumar and Viswanathan—have been given opportunities to serve in the Cabinet. Building upon these developments, the Congress party has now been granted a Rajya Sabha seat as well.

The seat fell vacant following the resignation of AIADMK member CV Shanmugam. The AIADMK leader contested and won the recent Tamil Nadu Assembly election from the Mailam constituency in the Villupuram district. Following this, the Election Commission of India (ECI) issued a notification last week stating that an election to fill this vacant Rajya Sabha seat would be held on the 18th of this month.

The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam would have easily won the Rajya Sabha by-election had it chosen to contest—it was widely expected that Vijay would soon announce a candidate from his own party. But instead it decided to give to the Congress.

Prior to the Assembly elections, during the Rajya Sabha elections held earlier, the Congress party had secured one Rajya Sabha seat through an arrangement with the DMK. At that time, Christophor Tilak was elected unopposed as the party's representative.

However, within two days of the election results being declared, the Congress party exited the DMK-led alliance and extended its support to the TVK. Subsequently, the party also joined and participated in the State Cabinet. With the Congress party securing two Rajya Sabha seats from two different parties over the past three months, its strength in the Upper House is set to rise to 30.

Meanwhile, amidst reports that the Congress is deliberating on inducting the TVK into the INDIA alliance, Chief Minister Vijay's decision to allocate a Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress party is being viewed as an event of significant political importance.