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Tamil Nadu Tourism Minister S Rajesh Kumar on Sunday, August 30, warned that the two Congress ministers in the state Cabinet, would quit their posts if ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) refuses to accept Rahul Gandhi as the prime-ministerial candidate for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking at a Congress party event in Kanniyakumari district, Rajesh Kumar said Rahul Gandhi would be the party’s prime ministerial candidate and the Congress cadres wanted to see him become the next Prime Minister.
“If at all TVK refuses to accept this, the two Congress ministers will walk out of the Cabinet,” he said.
Rajesh Kumar also said that his party was more important to him than his ministerial post. “If the party asks us to withdraw from the ministry, we will step down the very next minute,” he said.
The five MLAs of Congress remain crucial to the TVK-led government’s majority in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. In return, TVK has allotted two ministerial berths to Congress — Tourism to Rajesh Kumar and Higher Education to P Viswanathan.
The Congress minister’s remarks came amid attempts by TVK leaders to project Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay as a possible prime ministerial candidate from Tamil Nadu in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
The issue gained prominence after Public Works Department Minister Aadhav Arjuna, during the Assembly debate on the delimitation exercise, said that a Prime Minister should emerge from Tamil Nadu.
Subsequently, other TVK ministers, including D Sarathkumar, A Srinath, and K Jagadeeswari, also spoke about Vijay as a possible PM face.
The claims gained wider attention after India Today cited a survey which said Vijay to be the third most preferred choice for Prime Minister in the country, after incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Reacting to TVK leaders’ remarks of projecting Vijay as PM face, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president (TNCC) Manickam Tagore had stated that they were still behaving with a “fan club mindset.”
Earlier on Sunday, Viswanathan was also asked about the number of prime ministerial candidates in the TVK-led alliance at Trichy airport.
“Rahul Gandhi is the sole prime ministerial candidate of the Indian National Congress. There will be no change in our stand,” Viswanathan said.