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Tami Nadu CM’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin takes oath as minister for sports
Shortly after he was sworn in as a minister, Udhayanidhi Stalin said that ‘Maamannan’ would be his last film as an actor
Tamil Nadu chief minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M K Stalin’s son and debutant MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin was sworn in as the minister for youth welfare and sports development in the state government on Wednesday.
Dressed in his trademark blue jeans and untucked white shirt bearing the symbol of the DMK’s youth wing, Udhayanidhi, 46, took his oath of office administered by governor R N Ravi at the Raj Bhavan in a simple 10-minute ceremony at 9.30am.
In a state where its chief ministers have comfortably straddled cinema and politics before making a complete switch to the latter, Udhayanidhi Stalin is the latest to follow this precedent announcing his last movie as an actor shortly after he was sworn in as a minister.
There has been no apparent opposition within the DMK to Udhayanidhi’s rapid elevation. Stalin’s estranged brother M K Alagiri is not in the picture. Their half-sister and Lok Sabha member Kanimozhi Karunanidhi has recently been elevated as one of the four deputy secretaries of the DMK. She has been seen as the party’s face in Delhi and the main draw for women.
But Udhayanidhi’s elevation has given more ammunition for Tamil Nadu’s opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to up the ante on criticising the party for its dynastic politics.
“It’s not new to me,” Udhayanidhi told reporters when asked about the AIADMK attack on him. “Even when I took charge as DMK’s youth wing secretary, there was such criticism. I cannot avoid it but the only way I can respond to that criticism is through my work.”
Udhayanidhi has been allotted the portfolios of Youth Welfare, Sports Development, Special Programme Implementation Department and Poverty Alleviation Programme and Rural Indebtedness. The Tamil Nadu government changed the portfolios of 10 other ministers. Finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan additionally got statistics to his existing portfolios.
“I want to work towards transforming Tamil Nadu into a sports capital,” Udhayanidhi said. His first task, he said, is to create a mini stadium in each of the states’ constituencies, promised in the DMK’s election manifesto last year before they swept the 2021 assembly elections. It was the first election he contested after entering politics and he won from the family’s borough of the Chepauk-Tiruvellikeni constituency in Chennai, which was held by his grandfather and former chief minister late M Karunanidhi.
The DMK scion’s journey has been in stark contrast with his father Stalin who was in his father Karunanidhi’s shadows for decades. Udhayanidhi was made the party’s youth wing secretary in July 2019- a post Stalin held for more than three decades until 2017. Stalin was 13 when he began organising youth wing activities and formed the DMK youth wing in 1980. He worked his way up to become the party’s treasurer, Chennai mayor, deputy chief minister and leader of the Opposition. Karunanidhi had brought in his son Stalin to his Cabinet in the period of 2006-2011 when he was already a fourth time legislator. Stalin became the party president after Karunanidhi’s death in August 2018 and chief minister in May 2021 at the age of 68.
Udhayanidhi entered politics only in 2019, campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in which the DMK-led alliance won 38 out of 39 seats and the subsequent 2021 elections when they formed the government. “He has worked really hard during this time and he will be given more responsibilities in the future. I have confidence that he is capable of handling both politics and cinema,” said higher education minister K Ponmudi.
Udhayanidhi has been a successful producer and distributor of Red Giant Movies in the Tamil cinema industry and he has acted in several films. On Wednesday, after taking charge as a minister he said that his last film would be ‘Maamannan’ with director Mari Selvaraj. “I was supposed to act in a film produced by Kamal (Haasan) sir. But when I told him about this, he was the first person to congratulate me. I’m not doing that film. ‘Maamannan’ is my last film,” said Udhayanidhi.
Though Haasan floated a political outfit Makkal Needhi Maiam in 2018 against Dravidian parties, he continues to act in films. His latest blockbuster Vikram in June was produced by Udhayanidhi’s Red Giant Movies. Haasan congratulated his “younger brother” Udhayanidhi on Twitter saying, “I hope you will not think of it as a position but accept it as a responsibility and the experience of three generations will help you. There are expectations,” he said.
Actor Rajinikanth said, “My heartiest congratulations to my brother Udhayanidhi Stalin who has been sworn in as a minister of Tamil Nadu.”
AIADMK spokesperson D Jayakumar claimed that Stalin had said that he will not indulge in dynastic politics but he has changed his stand. “Senior ministers in the DMK are all upset that Udhayanidhi Stalin has come into the Cabinet but they are not able to openly say so,” Jayakumar claimed.
“This will cause a lot of problems in their family as well as in the party.” Leader of Opposition and AIADMK’s interim general secretary, Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) on Tuesday alleged that Udhayanidhi as a minister will be the head of all corruption in the ruling DMK government.
