How Karunanidhi successfully headed a minority government for five years
The situation faced by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) is not different from the situation faced by the late Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 2006.
Contesting alone in the last Assembly elections, TVK won 108 seats (Mr. Vijay won two).
However, DMK, which contested the Assembly elections 20 years ago in alliance with the Indian National Congress, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), could win only 96 seats. However, the DMK formed the government with external support from its allies, even though the Congress, which had won 34 seats, repeatedly put pressure on the DMK to include its MLAs in the government.
Karunanidhi was determined to lead the government as the DMK government because he had the support of PMK and Left parties; Their total power was enough to cross the halfway point. But the then general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Leader of Opposition J. Jayalalithaa never missed an opportunity to deride it as a “minority DMK government”.
Also read | The last stand: M. Karunanidhi’s legacy
It was former TNCC president and Union Minister EVKS Elangovan who specifically voiced the need for a coalition government. He had publicly expressed his views on this issue long before the 2006 Assembly elections.
“Coalitions have become the order of the day at the Center and in many States and Tamil Nadu cannot remain an exception for long,” Mr. Elangovan, while serving as Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry from 2004 to 2009, had said. His claim was that the Dravidian parties could not come to power without the support of the Congress. His prediction finally came true in 2006.
The argument put forward by Elangovan and other Congress leaders at that time was that the DMK could not enjoy the benefits of a coalition government at the Center while at the same time denying Congress involvement in the State government.
The last time Tamil Nadu witnessed a coalition government was 1952. However, leaders of the Dravidian parties later largely shunned the idea. In 1980, DMK and Congress agreed to have 50% of the seats and form a coalition government if voted to power. However, the coalition idea sank deep after the alliance failed to seize power.
Even before the 2006 elections, Karunanidhi surprised both his allies and rivals by saying that his party was ready for coalition rule after the elections. He said that after the results, the DMK alliance received the mandate to form a coalition government. But later, Dr. He changed his mind after 18 PMK MLAs led by Ramadoss submitted a letter of unconditional support.
Karunanidhi, who later went to Delhi to meet Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, rejected the possibility of forming a coalition government and said that the pre-election arrangement in which the Congress would support the DMK from outside would continue.
Also read | Karunanidhi and the formation of the Dravidian movement
His claim was that the DMK had provided unconditional support to the Congress government in Puducherry and the Congress would similarly support the DMK government in Tamil Nadu.
A senior Congress leader, who was among the party’s MPs in 2006, said the DMK leadership managed to convince Mrs Gandhi of the “challenges of running a coalition government in a state like Tamil Nadu”.
“Karunanidhi and Arcot N. Veerasami (then Minister) told me and another senior MLA to prepare a list of candidates to be placed in the coalition government. Mr. Veeraswami even told me that seven assemblies were ready for Congress ministers. But this never happened due to lack of unity among Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu,” the Congress leader recalled.
However, Congress MLAs continued to raise their voices in favor of the coalition government. Speaking during the motion of thanks to the governor, Congress member C. Gnanasekaran, one of the well-known figures of the party, said that the coalition model was successful at the Centre.
“Coalition style of governance is catching on in states like Maharashtra and Kerala. Mr. Karunanidhi should come forward to implement the coalition strategy in Tamil Nadu as well,” he said.
Karunanidhi somehow escaped the pressure, thanks in part to support
by the PMK and partly due to lack of unity among Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu as well as lack of strong support from the party high command.
But Mr. Vijay may not be able to avoid a coalition government as the Congress, which was among the first parties to support him, is keen to join the government. Congress legislators are expected to assume office when the Cabinet is expanded, ushering in a new phase in Tamil Nadu politics.
It was published – 20 May 2026 06:00 IST
