Where did Vijay’s victory come from — and why did no one see it coming?

Team TOI PlusTIMESOFINDIA.COM
May 5, 2026 | 16:15 IST

Almost no one treated TVK as the party that could win. At best, it was expected to cut votes and embarrass the old players. These are their safest columns from which Vijay’s party took seats



“He’s a small boy,” Tamil Nadu minister from DMK, RS Rajakannappan, had said of Vijay’s entry into politics. “TVK is doing politics like school kids. Vijay is behaving as if he is in a cinema shoot — dancing with actresses and pinching their hips — and then making political statements,” BJP’s Annamalai had said of him and his party. And Tamil Nadu BJP chief Nainar Nagendran was even more withering: “They won’t even win one seat.”
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