Udhayanidhi Stalin, the son of DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, took oath on Sunday as the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
The ruling DMK's rank and file had been seeking 46 year-old Udhayanidhi's promotion with an eye on the 2026 Assembly polls in the state, which the party is keen to win and retain power in the state.
Equally notable in the TN Cabinet reshuffle was Senthil Balaji's return. Ever since he walked out of the jail on Thursday, speculations were rife about his return to the Stalin-led ministry in an imminent reshuffle. The CM himself has dropped adequate hints of a cabinet reshuffle over the past many days.
Meteoric rise of Udhayanidhi Stalin
Born on November 27, 1977, Udhayanidhi's real innings in his party began with his appointment as DMK youth wing secretary in July 2019 and under his leadership, the party reaffirmed its goal to inculcate the Dravidian spirit into the party cadres by organising ideology based workshops and interactions and the focus remained on using technology to reachout to more and more youths and increase party membership. Also, several other initiatives like the youth wing conference and a state-wide motorcycle rally enthused cadres and helped build his image further as a go-getter.
Udhay’s rise in the DMK has been meteoric even for a member of the first family and is in complete contrast with his father Stalin, who climbed the party ladder gradually over the decades. Udhay’s first political outing was in 2018, a year after his grandfather M Karunanidhi was confined to his home, and the next year he was appointed as secretary of the youth wing.
In 2021, Udhay contested the assembly elections from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni, a constituency in Chennai represented by his grandfather, and won by a massive margin. And in 2022, he was a minister in his father’s 1.5 years old government.
In contrast, Stalin, who was groomed by Karunanidhi to succeed him, had to wait for at least 15 years to join his father’s cabinet. Stalin was inducted as a minister only in 2006, in his fourth term as a legislator and patiently waited for Karunanidhi to hand over the reins to him.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, he was hugely successful with his 'single brick' campaign to send across a message to people that the Madurai AIIMS project of the BJP-led Centre remained a non-starter though it was announced in the 2015-16 Union Budget. It was arguably the first time he outshone his colleagues in the party and several leaders vied with each other to praise him for his natural ability to connect with the people.
Udhay’s rise in the DMK has been meteoric even for a member of the first family and is in complete contrast with his father Stalin, who climbed the party ladder gradually over the decades. Udhay’s first political outing was in 2018, a year after his grandfather M Karunanidhi was confined to his home, and the next year he was appointed as secretary of the youth wing.
In 2021, Udhay contested the assembly elections from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni, a constituency in Chennai represented by his grandfather, and won by a massive margin. And in 2022, he was a minister in his father’s 1.5 years old government.
In contrast, Stalin, who was groomed by Karunanidhi to succeed him, had to wait for at least 15 years to join his father’s cabinet. Stalin was inducted as a minister only in 2006, in his fourth term as a legislator and patiently waited for Karunanidhi to hand over the reins to him.
Last year, though Udhayanidhi's comments on Sanatan Dharma led to a nation-wide controversy, it in a way, helped the party to reiterate and convince its key political constituencies that his comments were a reflection of the party ideology to eradicate practices that went against the Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and the women as well and that it had absolutely nothing to do with religion. The party, rallying in his support, campaigned that national icons like Periyar EV Ramasamy, Dr BR Ambedkar and Naryana Guru had spoken against discrimination including those based on a person's birth. That the Sanatan Dharma controversy cut no electoral ice in Tamil Nadu was also seen as a success for Udhayanidhi.
Naturally, being the son of Chief Minister M K Stalin and grandson of late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi brought its own unique advantages for Udhayanidhi's growth within the party. After he took over as Minister, he launched several initiatives to encourage sportspersons and improve sports infrastructure and distribution of Kalaignar sports kit was one among them.
(With PTI & DHNS inputs)