The plan, which was originally sold as coalition management, now increasingly resembles acquisition. Days after abandoning negotiations to induct rebel AIADMK legislators into the Cabinet, the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has begun what leaders across Tamil Nadu politics are privately describing as a far more ambitious project: reducing its dependence on allies altogether and pushing solely towards the important number of 118 in the 234-member House.

The first visible move came Monday. Three AIADMK MLAs – S Jayakumar from Perundurai, K Maragatham Kumaravel from Madurantakam (SC), and P Sathyabama from Dharapuram (SC) – resigned from the Assembly and shortly afterward met senior TVK leader and minister Aadhav Arjuna before formally joining the ruling party.

Officially, they resigned as legislators. Politically, however, they appeared to be volunteering for a different experiment: contesting again under Vijay’s “whistle” symbol in the subsequent by-elections.

And inside Tamil Nadu’s political corridors, the operation already has a nickname.“Operation L,” said a former AIADMK minister close to party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, smiling carefully when asked what the “L” stood for. “Lottery. Or Leema. Or Leave. Read it whichever way you want,” he quipped. The remark, which came from a visibly upset AIADMK leader, was laced with bitterness, sarcasm and frustration. It was a reference to the alleged role of politically connected financial networks, the powerful Arjuna (the son-in-law of the Lottery baron Santiago Martin) within the TVK, and the financially powerful presence of AIADMK MLA Leema Rose Martin (Martin’s wife), who is seen by sections within the party as favouring an arrangement with the TVK coalition. It was also a dark pun on the AIADMK’s “Two Leaves” symbol, suggesting that with legislators steadily “leaving”, one of the leaves itself was being peeled away.

According to multiple TVK and AIADMK sources, Vijay’s party has internally shifted from coalition arithmetic to majority arithmetic. The numbers explain the urgency.

The TVK currently has an effective strength of 107 MLAs after Vijay vacated one of the two seats he won. The party governs comfortably for now with support from the Congress, CPI, CPI(M), VCK and IUML. But several senior leaders inside TVK increasingly believe a first-generation party built around a single charismatic leader cannot remain permanently dependent on post-poll allies.

The target, therefore, is straightforward: 118 MLAs from TVK alone. With the Trichy East by-election already inevitable following Vijay’s resignation there, TVK strategists now believe synchronised by-elections in multiple constituencies could slowly transform the coalition government into a de facto single-party government.

“If these seats go together, momentum matters,” said a senior TVK functionary involved in organisational planning. “The public mood changes once voters begin believing the government is stabilising itself.”

According to top TVK sources, at least seven or eight more MLAs are expected to resign in the coming weeks.

The political irony is striking. Only days ago, the same AIADMK rebel faction led by C Ve Shanmugham and S P Velumani believed they were negotiating entry into Vijay’s Cabinet. Several rounds of discussions reportedly revolved around ministerial allocations before the TVK abruptly abandoned the idea under pressure from the Left parties, VCK and sections within its own leadership. Now many rebels feel stranded.

“We are shocked,” one senior rebel faction leader told The Indian Express. “For days they spoke to us about coalition arrangements. Then suddenly that plan disappeared and this began.”

Inside the TVK too, the debate had become intense. Leaders such as John Arockiasamy and N “Bussy” Anand were reportedly opposed to inducting AIADMK rebels into government, arguing that it would dilute TVK’s anti-corruption image and invite allegations of political horse-trading. Arjuna and others pushed for accommodation, citing stability and arithmetic.

Eventually, Vijay chose another route: secular allies inside or AIADMK rebels outside the Cabinet but with a door open for individual defections. That distinction now defines the new phase of the crisis.

Interestingly, the TVK’s outreach appears especially focused on politically vulnerable legislators, those socially isolated inside the AIADMK structure or lacking deep financial backing. Both Maragatham Kumaravel and Sathyabama are Dalit MLAs. According to top TVK sources, two more Dalit AIADMK MLAs from Salem and Namakkal districts are also in talks. “Like all political operations, this too has social arithmetic,” admitted one senior TVK source.

Meanwhile, the AIADMK itself increasingly resembles two parallel rescue operations happening simultaneously. One group is resigning. Another – the rebel faction  – is finding ways to reconcile with EPS’s leadership.

On Monday, even as three MLAs quit and joined the TVK, at least five legislators from the rebel faction met EPS at his Greenways Road residence in what party leaders described as a reconciliation effort. With that, the EPS camp claims support from 27 MLAs out of the party’s original 47. The party’s official leadership hopes anti-defection law itself may become its final defensive wall.

But TVK strategists appear to have already adapted to that legal obstacle. Rather than encouraging MLAs to directly defect and risk disqualification battles, the newer model is resignation first, re-election later. That route is cleaner legally, if not necessarily morally simpler.

The operation has also revived speculation around Leema, whose family already occupies a visible space inside Tamil Nadu’s new ruling ecosystem.

Asked whether Leema herself may resign and contest again under the TVK banner, TVK sources refused to comment. But inside AIADMK circles, the symbolism is already being discussed mercilessly. “If five or ten AIADMK MLAs resign and contest under the TVK banner, you can say one of the Two Leaves itself has gone missing. And Leema may be one of them to resign soon,” the former AIADMK minister joked darkly.

When contacted, Leema was unavailable for comment. Arjuna said he would respond “soon” when approached for a reaction.

The satire hides real panic. For decades, Tamil Nadu’s Dravidian parties perfected coalition management while ensuring that actual power remained tightly centralised. Vijay’s rise has disrupted that rhythm entirely. Now both the DMK and AIADMK are discovering that instability does not arrive slowly or politely. It comes constituency by constituency. MLA by MLA. Sometimes even “leaf by leaf”.