Virudhunagar Congress MP B. Manickam Tagore on Sunday said that DMK president M. K. Stalin announced his party leader Rahul Gandhi as INDIA bloc’s Prime Ministerial candidate with an eye to harvest votes in Tamil Nadu..Talking to reporters here , he said his party never asked Mr. Stalin to announce Mr. Gandhi as the PM candidate.On DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin blaming the Congress of betrayal, he said it was to divert the attention of their defeat in the Assembly election. “Even when Mr. Gandhi was campaigning for the DMK, claiming that Mr. Stalin would not surrender before BJP, the people saw through the design of Mr. Stalin surrendering to BJP and voted out the DMK.”The DMK, which won only 59 seats, could not have formed the government with the five Congress MLAs. “People have rejected the DMK and, as a collateral damage, the strength of Congress MLAs has got reduced from 18 to 5,” he added.Mr. Tagore said the DMK, led by Mr. Udhayanidhi, would continue to face bigger defeats as he had diluted the major ideologies of the party. The Congress would fight the forthcoming local body elections and the next Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the ruling TVK.Stating that Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, who wanted to give clean politics to Tamil Nadu by eliminating vested interests and corrupt persons, would will face a lot of trouble, he said that Mr. Gandhi would support Mr. Vijay’s intention.The MP exuded confidence that Mr. Vijay would bring about great changes in Tamil Nadu. Published - June 07, 2026 08:05 pm IST