NEW DELHI, May 4 -- Just as it became clear that Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) was emerging as the top party in Tamil Nadu, a section of the Congress muttered not-so-quietly to each other: "I told you so." HT has confirmed with at least three key people in the Congress that they seriously considered dumping their long-time allies, the state's ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and going with Vijay in the run-up to the assembly elections.

This would explain why the two-decade-old alliance went through a very frosty phase during the elections. Notably, there were no joint rallies or appearances between Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin and the Congress' Lok Sabha leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

"It is true that the TVK ...