Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay had reportedly explored joining the Congress party as early as 2009, but the move did not materialise after Rahul Gandhi advised him to first prove himself by contesting internal Youth Congress elections, according to a report by Hindustan Times. Ironically, today Congress is in an alliance with the TVK in the state.
It is reported that Vijay, accompanied by his father and filmmaker SA Chandrasekhar, had travelled to Delhi along with Congress leader Gopinath Palaniyappan, who was then serving as national secretary of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI).
When contacted by Hindustan Times, Palaniyappan declined to discuss the matter in detail. The developments reportedly took place shortly after the United Progressive Alliance returned to power in 2009 under then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, at a time when Rahul Gandhi was focused on restructuring the Youth Congress and NSUI.
According to a Congress leader quoted anonymously in the report, Vijay’s intention at the time was modest and limited to becoming a member of the All India Congress Committee. The leader reportedly said Vijay had neither sought an election ticket nor demanded any political position. The source also claimed that SA Chandrasekhar’s ideological inclination toward the Congress had influenced the actor’s interest in joining the party.
The report further stated that Rahul Gandhi’s emphasis on recruiting and building leadership through the Youth Congress structure did not appeal to Vijay. Some within Congress reportedly believed that the DMK, then an ally of the Congress, had also discouraged Vijay’s induction into the party.
As a result, the actor did not join Congress despite the discussions. The report added that Gandhi and Vijay nevertheless remained in contact over the years through intermediaries.
An aide of Rahul Gandhi was quoted as saying that it may ultimately have worked in Vijay’s favour that he did not join Congress in 2009, arguing that he could otherwise have become “lost in the party” instead of emerging as a major political force independently.
The report also referred to recent remarks made by SA Chandrasekhar after TVK’s electoral performance, in which he reportedly urged Congress to ally with Vijay and claimed that such an alliance could restore the power the party had lost in Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Ragini Nayak shared an old photograph on social media showing Vijay alongside former NSUI office-bearers including Hibi Eden, Gopinath Palaniyappan, Ashok Basoya and herself.
✨तेरा मुझसे है पहले का नाता कोई ✨
जो संघी/भाजपायी विलाप कर रहे हैं कि @INCIndia और @TVKVijayHQ का गठबंधन अचानक कैसे हो सकता है…
वो ये तस्वीर ज़रा ध्यान से देखें
ये 12-13 साल पुरानी फोटो है जिसमें हम @nsui के तत्कालीन राष्ट्रीय पदाधिकारियों के साथ @actorvijay कंधे से कंधा… pic.twitter.com/jYDqrLflRr
— Dr. Ragini Nayak (@NayakRagini) May 7, 2026
In her post, Nayak reportedly suggested that those surprised by the present-day proximity between Congress and Vijay should look at the years-old photograph as evidence of earlier political interactions between the actor and the party leadership.
The Hindustan Times report stated that Congress leader Pawan Khera was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.
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