CHIEF Minister M K Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi is joining his father’s Cabinet as minister. An MLA and movie star, who heads one of South India’s most influential film companies, the 45-year-old will be sworn in on December 14, an auspicious day in the Tamil calendar.
Udhayanidhi, who represents Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni in the Assembly, is likely to get portfolios such as youth welfare, sports development, and special programme implementation.
While Udhayanidhi’s induction as minister has long been expected, his film commitments at Red Giants, his production company that controls a significant share of the business in South India, delayed it.
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PremiumA senior DMK minister said that holding a Cabinet portfolio is a full-time job. “We used to be critical of MGR (matinee idol and AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran) for playing the dual roles of Chief Minister and superstar. We didn’t want Udhayanidhi to go through the same,” the minister said, adding that Udhyanidhi’s most recent film is in post-production.
December 14 is the penultimate day of the auspicious Tamil month of Kartigai, and Udhayanidhi will be sworn in on 9.30 am, an official statement said. Though Stalin professes to be an atheist in line with the DMK’s rationalist ideals, Udhayanidhi, his mother Durga Stalin, and Stalin’s influential son-in-law Sabareesan are all believers.
Incidentally, Stalin himself had to wait in the shadows for a long time before his father and DMK patriarch, the late M Karunanidhi, let him climb up the ranks, holding a ministerial portfolio for the first time only in his late 50s. Two family members told The Indian Express that Udhayanidhi’s mother didn’t want her son “to suffer the same fate”.
While Udhayanidhi was hesitant to accept the responsibility because he already has a lot on his plate, they said, “She was adamant that he not be forced to wait until his late 50s or 60s to assume a significant position in politics.”
Another top family source, involved with the affairs of the DMK and the state government, said the calculation was that there was no point waiting, and that if there were to be a pushback against dynastic succession in the party, Udhayanidhi might as well as face it now rather than later. “Udhayanidhi will be held accountable even if he takes up this position after 10 years. Let him face it now,” the source said, pointing out that the other branches of the Karunanidhi family are now well settled into their roles, including Kanimozhi as the DMK’s Delhi face.
Stalin’s elder brother M K Alagiri, who once launched an open rebellion against him, is now no longer in the picture.
According to another party source, the DMK had also taken its cue from the Congress. “Its defeat in the 2014 general elections wouldn’t have been as severe, and the party’s standing in 2022 much better, if Sonia Gandhi had appointed Rahul Gandhi to the UPA Cabinet in 2009,” the source said, adding that Udhayanidhi had already taken the first step by being elected to the Assembly.
Like how Stalin learnt under Karunanidhi as first a minister and later as deputy chief minister, in 2009–2011, sources said there would be a senior secretary teaching Udhayanidhi the ropes. Party leaders give the example of IAS officer Ashok Vardhan Shetty, who is credited with implementing many of the effective strategies behind DMK schemes under the Karunanidhi administration, especially in portfolios held by Stalin.
On plans for Udhayanidhi, including the readying of his office, a senior DMK minister said: “Numerous sports-related development projects have already been announced by us. Plus, in the state, 234 sports complexes are being built, and Udhayanidhi will visit each one. He will travel from Nagapattinam to Krishnagiri, and Tiruvallur to Kanyakumari. He will lead all the celebrations and sporting events like Jallikattu during the Pongal celebrations.”
