Actor-turned-politician Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar was sworn in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on Sunday morning at Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, turning into the primary in almost six many years to haven’t any connection to both of the Dravidian events which have ruled the southern Indian state with out interruption since 1967.
Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar administered the oath of workplace and secrecy to Vijay at 10 a.m. native time. 9 ministers had been concurrently inducted into the cupboard, amongst them TVK Common Secretary N. Anand, TVK leaders Aadhav Arjuna and Ok.A. Sengottaiyan, and Selvi S. Keerthana – the only lady within the inaugural council. Vijay reserved the portfolios of public administration, police and residential for himself.
The ceremony dropped at an in depth per week of acute political uncertainty that at a number of factors threatened to maintain Vijay out of energy totally. His Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam had gained 108 seats within the April 23 election – a rare debut, however 10 wanting the bulk mark of 118. When Vijay referred to as on the Governor on Wednesday to stake his declare, he might display the backing of solely 113 legislators (MLAs) – his personal 108 seats plus the 5 gained by Congress, which had damaged sharply from its earlier DMK alliance to assist TVK, a transfer that drew fierce criticism from senior DMK leaders.
What adopted was a frantic few days of horse-trading. Tv channels carried near-continuous hypothesis that the DMK and AIADMK – rivals for six many years – had been holding secret talks, colluding to kind a mixed authorities that will shut out the newcomer and hold energy throughout the Dravidian fold. The experiences gained a level of credibility when AIADMK common secretary Edappadi Ok. Palaniswami, having assembled his 47 newly elected MLAs in Chennai for a gathering that formally dominated out supporting Vijay, nonetheless requested them to stay within the metropolis for a number of extra days in case “something new and unprecedented” required their approval. A piece of AIADMK’s personal legislators was reported to favor backing Vijay, towards Palaniswami’s needs. The Left events and the Indian Union Muslim League initially declined to commit their assist. The VCK, which had fought the election as a DMK ally, stated its two MLAs’ destiny could be determined by occasion president Thol. Thirumavalavan alone, and stored the political world ready.
The logjam lastly broke over Thursday and Friday, as Thirumavalavan confirmed the VCK’s unconditional backing, with the IUML following. The Left events – CPI and CPI(M) with two seats every – subsequently fell into line, carrying TVK’s mixed flooring energy to 120 and settling the query of presidency formation. The ultimate tally rests on TVK’s personal 107 efficient seats – Vijay having gained two constituencies and being required by regulation to vacate one – alongside 5 from Congress and two every from CPI, CPI(M), VCK and IUML. TVK has dedicated to dealing with a vote of confidence on or earlier than Could 13.
Among the many dignitaries in attendance on the swearing in ceremony was Rahul Gandhi, chief of the opposition within the central parliament, the Lok Sabha, whose presence carried weight effectively past ceremony. For Gandhi’s Congress occasion, the Tamil Nadu coalition marks a return to a share of energy within the state after roughly six many years on the periphery – and arrives at a second of hanging nationwide momentum for the occasion. In the identical spherical of elections, the Congress-led United Democratic Entrance secured 102 of 140 seats in neighboring Kerala. the UDF’s haul represents its finest efficiency within the state in almost 5 many years, bringing down a authorities the Left Democratic Entrance had held with out interruption since 2016. Congress already governs Karnataka, the place Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been in workplace since Could 2023, and Telangana underneath Chief Minister Revanth Reddy since December 2023. The Tamil Nadu coalition now provides a fourth southern state to that footprint – a significant counterweight to the BJP-led authorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the centre, and one which Congress might be desperate to consolidate forward of the subsequent common election.
The identical poll that produced Vijay’s triumph delivered sharply contrasting verdicts elsewhere. In West Bengal, the BJP ended Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress’s lengthy dominance with a landslide of 207 seats within the 293-member meeting, lowering TMC to 80 — a end result Banerjee and opposition figures together with Rahul Gandhi disputed. In Assam, the BJP retained energy comfortably with 82 of 126 seats, defeating the Congress-led problem, which secured 19. In Puducherry, the NDA equally held its floor: the All India N.R. Congress took 12 seats and BJP 4, with N. Rangasamy returning to the Chief Minister’s workplace for a fifth time period. TVK contested the union territory’s 30-seat meeting and secured two seats – a modest however symbolically vital foothold for a celebration that didn’t exist two years in the past. The DMK, routed in Tamil Nadu, managed 5 seats in Puducherry.
Actor Trisha Krishnan was among the many movie trade figures within the stadium as Tamil cinema watched one among its largest stars formalise his transition from display to the state’s highest elected workplace.
The formation of the federal government brings to an in depth a political journey Vijay started in February 2024, when he wound up a movie profession spanning 69 lead roles and launched TVK, instantly asserting an ambition to contest all 234 seats with out alliance companions. The occasion drew on Vijay’s 85,000-strong fan membership community to construct a grassroots equipment that in the end secured roughly 35% of the favored vote – the next share than M.G. Ramachandran managed in his personal landmark 1977 debut as an actor entering into authorities.
The event additionally might finish the prolonged limbo surrounding “Jana Nayagan” — the H. Vinoth-directed KVN Productions title, starring Vijay, that turned the main target of a chronic certification dispute with the Central Board of Movie Certification and a dangerous piracy incident in April, and which has nonetheless not obtained a theatrical launch date. No matter its eventual field workplace destiny, the movie’s lead is now Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
