# Congress backing TVK’s Vijay was not sudden: Tagore 2026-10-02T22:57:31+00:00 | Politics | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Manickam Tagore said the party's decision to support Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay in the 2026 Assembly election was not sudden, and that Vijay had maintained a close relationship with Rahul Gandhi since 2009. Speaking at a joint campaign meeting in Madurantakam on 2 October ahead of the 6 October by-poll, Tagore said Congress followed a consultative process that included calling state leaders to Delhi on 17 January. Tagore said Congress decided on 2 March to continue its alliance with the DMK but later chose to support TVK given the political situation. He said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge informed DMK leader TR Baalu before further steps were taken. Tagore cited common positions on a caste census, power-sharing and secularism as the basis for the understanding, and noted Rahul Gandhi had publicly supported Vijay after the Karur incident and during the controversy over the film 'Jana Nayagan'. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both dtnext and Deccan Chronicle report Tagore's remarks identically, describing Congress's decision as consultative and tracing Vijay's relationship with Rahul Gandhi to 2009. The coverage is uniform straight reporting: neither outlet challenges or contextualises Tagore's account. The only new fact is the 6 October by-poll deadline that frames the meeting. The story leaves open how DMK voters or other alliance partners will respond to Congress's shift from the DMK to the TVK-led alliance. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - dtnext.in (neutral report) Straight reporting of Tagore's speech without commentary - deccanchronicle.com (neutral report) Straight reporting of Tagore's speech without commentary This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: Mallikarjun Kharge, Manickam Tagore, Rahul Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, Vijay Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/congress-backing-tvks-vijay-was-not-sudden-tagore/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/congress-backing-tvks-vijay-was-not-sudden-tagore/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/