Last week, actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam founder C. Joseph Vijay disappointed his supporters when he did not address them at an Assembly election meeting in Karaikudi on April 10, 2026, as his arrival was delayed “due to huge crowds en route” from Madurai.

Mr. Vijay’s “silent” campaign revived memories of a development that took place over a quarter of a century ago in Tamil Nadu at the height of the 1999 parliamentary elections.

The snap polls were being held in the country after AIADMK leader Jayalalitha (as her name was spelled then) pulled down the 13-month old Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, elected in 1998. The collapse of the BJP-led alliance government was preceded by a tea party hosted by Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy (now in BJP), in New Delhi in which Jayalalitha and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi participated. It paved the way for the revival of the AIADMK-Congress alliance in Tamil Nadu.

On August 17, 1999, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (I) president Tindivanam K. Ramamurthi at a press conference announced that Ms. Gandhi and Jayalalitha will jointly address an election meeting at Villupuram on August 22, canvassing support for the front’s candidates.

However, on August 22, as Ms Gandhi, TNCC (I) leaders and candidates of the front waited at Villupuram for several hours for Jayalalitha’s arrival, she did not turn up. Ms. Gandhi then addressed the crowd of supporters and left, while AIADMK leaders claimed she was held up en route.

Jayalalitha’s “no show” quickly became a talking point in political circles. The following day, DMK leader and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who had joined hands with the BJP to fight the polls, said the Congress (I) president had had a bitter foretaste of what lay ahead due to her party’s alliance with Jayalalitha-led AIADMK.

“Should, by some quirk of chance, Ms. Sonia Gandhi come to power, Ms. Jayalalitha’s attitude may well force the former to flee to Italy,” Mr. Karunanidhi quipped at an election meeting in Sivaganga, according to a report in The Hindu.

Referring to Jayalalitha’s campaign at Ulunderpet, just 20 km from Villupuram, on August 21, Karunanidhi said it would have been proper for the AIADMK leader to stay back there and join Ms. Gandhi for the joint campaign on Sunday.

However, Jayalalitha chose to return to Chennai on Saturday and announce a fresh campaign schedule for Sunday from Chennai to Villupuram. “That itself was an indication that the Villupuram joint meeting would be a non-starter,” he quipped.

Adverting to how Ms. Gandhi had to wait in the Collector’s bungalow at Villupuram for an hour, Karunanidhi said television images showed a “pathetic and dejected” Ms. Gandhi pacing the terrace.

At both meetings addressed by Ms. Sonia Gandhi — Tiruchi and Villupuram — the respective AIADMK candidates were conspicuous by their absence, he pointed out.

The Hindu report quoted Karunanidhi as saying that in the case of Vajpayee, problems arose from Jayalalitha right from delaying her letter of support to the BJP-led government until after the previous election results were known. But now, even before the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress (I)–AIADMK alliance was beset with “confusion,” if Ms. Jayalalitha not keeping her engagement with Ms. Sonia Gandhi at Villupuram was any indication.

Reacting for the first time on the controversy over her skipping the Villpuram meeting, Jayalalitha on August 26, denied she had deliberately stayed away from the joint campaign meeting scheduled with the Congress (I) leader.

Amid widespread speculation that the alliance was at stake, she said both Ms. Gandhi and the public were aware that she had been caught in a “sea of humanity” at an election meeting in Tambaram [near Chennai] while en route to Villupuram.

Dravidar Kazhagam leader K. Veeramani, who at that time was supporting the AIADMK, described as “making a molehill out of a mountain” the inability of Jayalalitha to attend the meeting.

A contemporaneous report said he criticised Opposition leaders for trying to make political capital out of the incident. He said both leaders had reaffirmed that the AIADMK–Congress alliance remained strong, and that senior AIADMK leaders had met Ms Gandhi during her stopover at the Chennai airport. Mr. Veeramani added NDA leaders, worried by the growing support for the alliance, were exaggerating the incident to undermine its popularity.

Two years later, it was payback time for Ms Gandhi. In May 2001, the Congress leader, who visited Pondicherry (now Puducherry) for campaigning, stayed away from electioneering in Tamil Nadu, where her party had an alliance with AIADMK.

A report in The Hindu said: While the official reason cited was “lack of time,” party sources claimed she avoided campaigning in Tamil Nadu on the advice of senior leaders. As the Congress had limited stakes in the State and was contesting only 14 seats, party leaders reportedly advised her not to include Tamil Nadu in her itinerary. Campaigning for an alliance that included the PMK and was led by Ms. Jayalalitha — who had been convicted and debarred from contesting — would have been a “huge embarrassment”, a senior Congress leader said.

“It will blunt the Congress fight against the BJP over the Tehelka expose if she defends Ms. Jayalalitha,” the leader added.

Interestingly, at her election meeting here this afternoon, Mrs. Gandhi avoided any reference to the AIADMK and the PMK, the report added.