PoliticsTamil Nadu
Rahul Gandhi lunches with CM Vijay in Chennai, a day before Vijay hosts Modi
The Congress leader and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister met for about an hour at Vijay's home. Neither side has said what was discussed, and Gandhi went on to attack the Centre at a student event.
Key points
- Rahul Gandhi had lunch with Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay at his Neelankarai home on 10 October, followed by coffee at a café in Palavakkam.
- The meeting came a day after TVK won both Tamil Nadu bypolls and a day before Vijay received Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chennai.
- Neither leader made any public statement on the talks; Gandhi was reported to have invited TVK to join opposition campaigns, including the protests over the SIR.
- At the sixth Chhatron Ki Goonj student event, Gandhi said Modi would not be allowed to attack Tamil language and culture.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had lunch with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay at Vijay’s home in Neelankarai, Chennai, on Saturday. The two later went to a café in Palavakkam for coffee. A day later, Vijay was at the airport to receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi and rode the new Chennai Metro stretch with him.
Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was accompanied by Ghulam Ahmad Mir, the Congress general secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and state Congress president Manickam Tagore. Party sources put the talks at about an hour.
What was said, and what was not
Neither Gandhi nor Vijay has made a public statement about the meeting. Gandhi was reported to have congratulated TVK on its bypoll wins in Madurantakam and Dharapuram, counted a day earlier, and to have invited the party to join future consultations, campaigns and protests against the BJP, including those over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. TVK has not said publicly whether it will take part.
That question matters because Vijay has not taken a public position on the SIR or on the protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Gandhi joined those protests at Jantar Mantar earlier in the week. In Chennai on Saturday, police were reported to have arrested more than 100 members of the CPI’s student and youth wings during a march demanding Kumar’s removal.
Where TVK and the Congress stand
TVK and the Congress since the assembly election
- 10 May 2026Vijay sworn in as Chief Minister; Rahul Gandhi attends.
- 4 Jun 2026DMK says it is no longer in the INDIA bloc after the Congress backs TVK.
- 9 Sep 2026TVK-led alliance named the Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance, with the Congress, VCK, MDMK and IUML.
- 3 Oct 2026TVK attends a Tamil Nadu INDIA bloc meeting for the first time.
- 9 Oct 2026TVK wins both Tamil Nadu bypolls.
- 10 Oct 2026Rahul Gandhi lunches with Vijay in Chennai.
- 11 Oct 2026Vijay receives Modi and rides the new Metro stretch with him.
The Congress broke with the DMK after this year’s assembly election and backed Vijay’s government. “We are no more in the INDIA bloc, and that is why we are not attending the meeting,” DMK leader T.K.S. Elangovan said in June.
TVK’s own place in the opposition alliance is still loosely defined. When its ministers Aadhav Arjuna and Maria Wilson attended a Tamil Nadu INDIA bloc meeting on 3 October, party spokesperson Felix Gerald described the INDIA alliance as “the larger version of the Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance”. “Technically, we are part of that alliance, and we are participating in today’s meeting on that basis,” he said.
Gandhi’s message to students
After the lunch, Gandhi spoke at the sixth edition of the Congress’s student outreach programme, Chhatron Ki Goonj (Maanavargalin Kural in Tamil), at Island Grounds. Questions covered NEET, paper leaks, education costs and jobs. He did not mention Vijay in his speech.
“We are not going to let Narendra Modi attack the Tamil language, Tamil history, Tamil culture, nothing,” Gandhi said. “He is not going to touch Tamil Nadu.” On Saturday he also named Modi, Amit Shah, Mohan Bhagwat, Gyanesh Kumar and Ajit Doval and said, “The core characteristic of these people is cowardice,” a remark he posted on X as well.
Questioning is the foundation of curiosity, questioning is also the foundation of progress.
The other side
The BJP has accused Gandhi of backing disorder over the protests against the CEC. “I would say these are people with an anarchist mindset, who know only how to spread poison in society,” BJP president Nitin Nabin said in Varanasi on 8 October. “If he has the courage, Rahul Gandhi should first resign.”
At his Chennai event on Sunday, Modi recalled his work with Tamil Nadu leaders of several parties and said “we are taking this journey forward with CM Joseph Vijay”.