India, May 10 -- When C Joseph Vijay addressed his party's second state conference in Madurai last August, he made clear his disdain for alliances, in their existing form at the time at least. "I don't have the need to join any slave alliance." He declared to a packed crowd. He said if his the TVK would ally with anyone at all, "It won't be a selfish alliance; it'll be a self-respect-oriented alliance."

He chose to go it alone in the assembly polls held in April 2026, and on May 10 became chief minister, making some interesting history - his is the state's first post-poll coalition government, stitched together after a tense week of negotiations with parties he had not campaigned with, some of whom had actively campaigned against him.

T...