Actor Vijay launched the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) promising to challenge the DMK, the AIADMK, and the BJP as an independent force. But just before the elections, an online meeting on Friday convened by party organiser Bussy Anand to appoint constituency coordinators turned into an unexpected reality check: many districts reported their inability to find candidates with the roughly Rs 5 crore considered necessary to contest polls. This led a majority of leaders at the meeting to raise the idea of an alliance, something that was once considered unthinkable in the party.While the party has no shortage of aspirants on paper, very few potential candidates can meet what leaders describe as the informal financial threshold required to run a competitive campaign. The Election Commission currently caps a candidate’s official campaign expenditure in Assembly elections at Rs 40 lakh, but the real cost of running competitive campaigns is often far higher.Advertisement“The minimum expectation internally is that a candidate should be able to mobilise around Rs 5 crore. In many constituencies, we simply don’t have people who can spend that kind of money,” said a district leader who attended the meeting.This triggered a candid conversation among the roughly 130 district leaders at the meeting. A senior TVK functionary said about three-fourths of the participants spoke in favour of exploring an alliance “because we cannot find candidates who can fund their own campaigns”.The financial question was not the only issue raised at the meeting. A leader from Pudukottai district said a former AIADMK minister had made an informal approach with the idea of an alliance. Once that information was shared, the discussion widened into what one participant described as “a Pandora’s box of opinions”.AdvertisementSome leaders argued that the party might have little choice but to align with a larger coalition if it wanted to contest effectively. Others questioned the political message such a move would send.“Why will people vote for the TVK if the CM candidate is EPS (AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami)?” a leader asked. Others wondered whether the AIADMK-NDA alliance would be willing to accommodate Vijay’s original demand for power sharing. “Will Vijay at least be offered a Deputy CM post?” asked another participant.A big dilemmaFor many in the party, the dilemma runs deeper than campaign logistics. Vijay has spent months attacking both the DMK government and the BJP in speeches that drew large crowds. An alliance with the same forces he criticised could appear to contradict that message. “Going with the AIADMK-BJP alliance goes against everything Vijay has said in his speeches,” said a party leader.“At a time when Vijay is facing a CBI inquiry in Delhi in connection with the Karur stampede case, and when discussions around his personal life, including the divorce and alleged relationship with a leading actress, have been circulating publicly, all of that formed the invisible backdrop of the meeting. It made the atmosphere more confused and vulnerable,” said a district secretary who was at the Friday meeting.The question that many party workers are now asking privately is why the leadership did not anticipate this earlier. “How could a party preparing for an election suddenly realise it doesn’t have candidates with resources? This is something that should have been assessed months ago,” a district secretary said.Where BJP, AIADMK, DMK standMultiple sources in the TVK, the AIADMK, and the BJP said there had been no pressure from the BJP for Vijay to join the alliance. A senior BJP leader said recent developments, including the controversy over the censor certification of Vijay’s film Jananayagan and the Karur stampede investigation, were not politically orchestrated.The BJP leader said talks with the TVK had been held through informal contacts. “There were conversations through businessmen and film producers who know people in both camps. They were not threatening or coercive, more exploratory.”But AIADMK leaders said their party was cautious about the idea of an alliance with Vijay. A former AIADMK minister said EPS harbours reservations about sharing power. I don’t think EPS will agree to power sharing even if Vijay decides to join us,” he said.For the TVK, an alliance could lead to new dilemmas. Some leaders estimate that if the party eventually joins forces with the AIADMK, Vijay might settle for around 40 to 50 seats, similar to the arrangement the AIADMK had with Vijayakanth’s DMDK for the 2011 Assembly polls.But even that scenario raises concerns within the TVK. A senior party leader said he had already warned those with access to the actor that the AIADMK’s history with allies contains cautionary lessons. “After the landslide victory in 1991, Jayalalithaa ended the alliance with the Congress. In 2011, after another sweeping win, she similarly sidelined Vijayakanth’s party. The AIADMK always had this dual face. What if Vijay faces the same fate?” he asked.Some in the AIADMK also worry that an alliance configuration without a clear majority could produce a coalition government in which the BJP gains unexpected leverage. “In such a scenario, the BJP may even propose a chief ministerial candidate of its own,” said an AIADMK leader. For the BJP, even a limited electoral understanding with Vijay could expand its political space in Tamil Nadu’s 234-member Assembly, party leaders said.In the DMK, leaders say the only alliance that could significantly complicate their electoral calculations would be a tie-up between TVK and the AIADMK, minus the BJP.Vijay’s inner circle“The core problem is the lack of clarity in Vijay’s own political thinking,” said a senior TVK leader who attended the Friday meeting. The leader said Vijay’s closest advisers such as John Arockiasamy, Bussy Anand, Aadhav Arjuna, C T R Nirmal Kumar, and Arun Raj had differing views.“Earlier, Bussy Anand and John Arockiasamy were strongly against an alliance,” the leader said. “Now, Bussy also appears to support the idea because of the difficulty in finding candidates.” According to party sources, Arockiasamy remains among the few voices opposing an alliance.you may likeOther figures in Vijay’s inner circle have their own political histories. Arun Raj, for instance, previously served as an Income Tax officer and was part of a team that once questioned Vijay during an investigation, an episode that at the time was widely interpreted by the actor’s supporters as pressure from the BJP using central agencies.Aadhav Arjuna is the son-in-law of the lottery businessman Santiago Martin and is facing Enforcement Directorate (ED) probes into financial deals involving his family.For now, the TVK leadership continues to weigh its options. But the Friday meeting left many party organisers confronting an uncomfortable reality: building a political movement may be easier than financing one.