Mani Shankar Aiyar Slams Congress For Backing TVK, Asks Rahul Gandhi To Step Down As INDIA Bloc Leader

Last Updated:May 08, 2026, 13:00 IST

Highlighting the Congress’s recent electoral setbacks, Mani Shankar Aiyar said other leaders may be able to devote more time and energy towards strengthening the INDIA bloc.

Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Friday launched a scathing attack on the grand old party over its decision to support actor-turned-politician Vijay’s TVK in Tamil Nadu and also questioned Rahul Gandhi’s leadership of the INDIA bloc.

While speaking to news agency PTI, the veteran Congress leader said that Rahul Gandhi should step aside as the leader of the opposition alliance and allow regional leaders such as Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, M K Stalin or Tejashwi Yadav to take charge of the bloc.

Highlighting the Congress party’s recent electoral setbacks, Aiyar said these leaders may be able to devote more time and energy towards strengthening the INDIA bloc.

“We were so incapable that we kept Mamata Banerjee away, and this led to Congress being weakened," Aiyar said, adding that Rahul Gandhi should not try to hold on to the leadership position.

Aiyar also termed his party’s decision to ally with the TVK in Tamil Nadu as “dreadful", and said that the party smacked of “low political opportunism" and asserted that if the move facilitates the backdoor entry of a “communal BJP" into the Dravidian state then it would prove to be the worst own goal in the history of political football.

Aiyar further said that the Congress had abandoned a long-standing ally immediately after fighting elections alongside the DMK. He argued that the Congress won its five Assembly seats mainly because of its alliance with the DMK and accused the party of ignoring the mandate in favour of the DMK-led alliance.

Aiyar also questioned the ethics and political wisdom behind the Congress’ sudden shift towards TVK, especially after Vijay’s party directly contested against Congress candidates in several constituencies.

“This is an unforgivable violation of Mahatma Gandhi’s 1925 maxim, ‘Swaraj should be a government based on morality’," Aiyar told PTI.

In an article published in the Hindu Tamil, the veteran Congress leader asked whether Chankya has prevailed or Mahatma Gandhi in the Congress switching partners in Tamil Nadu.

“The Congress won five seats, not because of itself but entirely on the strength of its decades-old junior partnership with the DMK. Indeed, my former parliamentary constituency of Mayiladuturai proved to be such a stronghold of the DMK-led alliance, that five out of its six assembly segments voted against Vijay’s TVK in favour of a galaxy of the members of the alliance with two seats going to the DMK and one each to alliance partners DMDK, IUML and the Congress," Aiyar said in his Tamil piece.

Thus, the mandate ran clearly in favour of the DMK-led alliance and against the newcomer, he pointed out.

The Congress veteran warned that abandoning a trusted ally like the DMK for a “new and uncertain partner" could damage the party’s credibility in the long run.

The Congress, which had been a long-time ally of the DMK, announced support earlier this week to Vijay’s TVK in its bid to form the government in Tamil Nadu. The move ended the Congress-DMK alliance and triggered a major political realignment in the state.

The DMK has accused the Congress of “backstabbing" by switching sides.

TVK emerged as the single largest party with 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly after the April 23 elections. Although Congress has extended support with its five MLAs, TVK still remains short of the 118-seat majority mark needed to form the government on its own.

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