Anticipation for the first state-level conference of Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) reached fever pitch by afternoon on Sunday, October 27. With only hours to go before Vijay is set to take the stage at such a major event, thousands of supporters were seen pouring into the venue at Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district. Ahead of declaring the party’s ideological position for the first time, Vijay has made it clear that the TVK has lofty ambitions of winning the 2026 Assembly polls. As indication of this stands the towering replica of Fort St George in Chennai—inside which the Secretariat is located—circumventing the reportedly 85-acre grounds rented out for the conference.

Also declaring his likely ideological stance are the cut-outs flanking his own at the venue: former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Kamaraj, Dravidian icon Periyar, Dr BR Ambedkar, Velu Nachiyar of Sivagangai, the first queen to have waged war against the East India Company in 1780, and Anjalai Ammal, who participated in the freedom struggle and was called ‘south India’s Jhansi Rani’ by MK Gandhi.

While it remains to be seen what ideals Vijay, and by extension his party, will stand for, the TVK’s journey to its first state-level conference has been a bumpy one.

2020 and 2021 saw a confusing tussle between Vijay and his father and director SA Chandrashekar who launched a political society called Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (VMI), only for the actor to distance himself from it. The public feud went on until September 2021, when SA Chandrashekar dissolved VMI after Vijay filed a civil suit against his parents regarding the political outfit.

On October 27, 2021, Vijay met members of the Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (TVMI, his fan association) who had won in local rural body polls. TVMI members won 129 seats of the 169 seats they had contested. 

In 2023, speaking at an event organised by TVMI for class 10 and 12 toppers, Vijay urged his fans and students to read the works of Ambedkar, Periyar, and Kamaraj, triggering another wave of speculation about his political entry.

However, it wasn’t until February 2024 that Vijay launched the TVK. On February 2, after a meeting with officials of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the party was launched with the promise of fulfilling Tamil Nadu’s “yearning” for political change that can “lead to a selfless, transparent, caste-free, visionary and corruption free administration.” 

On the same day, his fans were heartbroken to know that the yet-to-be-titled Thalapathy 69 would be Vijay’s last film. “Politics is not a pastime for me. It is a deep quest. I wish to immerse myself completely in politics. I have decided to dedicate myself entirely to the service of the people after completing my responsibilities towards one more film I have signed up for,” Vijay had said in a statement at the time. 

On August 22, the party unveiled its red and yellow striped flag featuring the vaagai flower (Albizia julibrissin) as its central motif, flanked by two elephants. According to reports, in the Sangam period, kings wore garlands made of these flowers to symbolise victory. In September, the ECI registered TVK as a political party. 

Soon after, on October 19, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) sent a legal notice to the TVK saying that the elephant is already its political symbol. 

The October 27 state-level conference was to be held in September, but multiple hurdles stood in the way. As TNM reported earlier this year, TVK spent months searching for the ideal venue. Venues in Trichy, Madurai, Salem, and other key localities in the state did not work out due to landowners’ fear of backlash, TNM reported in Powertrip in August. In Trichy, the landowners had wanted a green light from DMK strongman KN Nehru. Permission was finally granted for the event to be held at the current venue on September 23 with multiple conditions, only for a fresh set of hiccups cropping up that pushed the conference to October.