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FM Nirmala Sitharaman added the growing strength of the AIADMK alliance and the NDA has compounded the pressure on the ruling party in Tamil Nadu.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has dismissed the DMK’s allegations that the Bharatiya Janata Party is pressuring actor-turned-politician Vijay to join the NDA, asserting that the ruling party’s anxiety itself shows how politically consequential he has become in Tamil Nadu.
In an interview with Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, FM Sitharaman said that if Vijay was indeed a major political factor, the party in power had the most reason to feel threatened. “If anybody who has got to be afraid of a factor that is big and worrying, it is the party which is ruling. So why should we be upset about it,” she said. “If he is a threat to the ruling DMK, I don’t need to be worried about it. Good enough.”
The DMK has repeatedly claimed that central agencies are being misused to coerce Vijay into aligning with the NDA, alleging harassment through possible CBI action and hurdles to the release of his films. Sitharaman rejected this narrative, instead framing the DMK’s response as a sign of deep political insecurity.
She argued that Vijay’s emergence — regardless of which side he eventually chooses — has unsettled the ruling establishment. “The DMK being worried about Vijay, I can understand it,” she said, adding that the growing strength of the AIADMK alliance and the NDA has compounded the pressure on the ruling party. “Vijay on the one side — either with or without us — the AIADMK alliance, the NDA now very strong, also coming up, are all making the DMK, although they are in power, completely insecure.”
Sitharaman linked this insecurity to the spate of welfare announcements and freebies by the DMK government in the run-up to the election. Questioning the timing, she said that a government confident of its governance record would not resort to such measures. “If you have been in power for five years and you have governed well… why would you want to throw all these freebies now?” she asked, alleging that the DMK had failed on law and order. “There is lawlessness and drugs like never before in Tamil Nadu,” she claimed.
Addressing speculation that Vijay could align with the Congress — potentially creating a formidable third front — Sitharaman downplayed the possibility by questioning the Congress’ relevance and unity in the state. “Where is the Congress in Tamil Nadu,” she asked, pointing out that the party survives politically by relying on the DMK. She described the state unit as deeply divided, with one faction inclined towards Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and another keen on continuing with the DMK. “They have embarrassed themselves by wanting to be there, reap benefits, but yet want to go to a new alliance,” she said.
On whether Vijay is truly the “X-factor” in the upcoming election, Sitharaman stopped short of making predictions. “Only the election can prove it,” she said, underlining that his political impact would ultimately be decided by voters, not speculation.
The remarks come at a time when Tamil Nadu’s political landscape is witnessing churn ahead of Assembly elections scheduled later this year, with Vijay’s entry adding an unpredictable element to an already multi-cornered contest.
February 02, 2026, 22:20 IST
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