Congress MP B. Manickam Tagore, who was prominent among those in the party recommending an alliance with the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam before the Assembly election, said on Wednesday (May 6, 2026) that the people of the State have rejected the M.K. Stalin-led DMK.

In a social media post, he said that the Tamil Nadu Assembly election results “have gone against the DMK.” The Virudhunagar MP ridiculed the Dravidian party, claiming that half of the DMK’s cabinet Ministers had lost their seats in the election. He further said that the Congress had won only five out of the 28 seats contested in alliance with the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), and claimed that the national party had faced collateral damage “for no fault of ours”.

Claiming that the BJP ruling at the Centre was eyeing Tamil Nadu, Mr. Tagore said that the question before the Congress was very clear: “Should we stand with those rejected by the people’s verdict, or should we unite with the force that fought against the BJP and will fight to stop the BJP from ruling Tamil Nadu?”

The TVK emerged as the single largest party in the State in the 2026 Assembly elections, but had secured only 108 seats, a few shy of the simple majority in the 234-member Assembly. Therefore, it had written to the Congress seeking its support to form the government in the State.