Actor-turned-politician C Joseph Vijay was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu today, May 10, days after his party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) made its debut in the assembly elections. The swearing-in took place at the sprawling Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, ending days of uncertainty over government formation.
TVK managed to get the key support of the Congress, the Left and two other smaller parties after the debutant party finished with 108 seats, 10 out of 118, the majority mark in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was also present at the mega event which was attended by a sea of Vijay supporters.
Along with Vijay, nine newly elected TVK MLAs also took oath on Sunday. They include Aadhav Arjuna, KA Sengottaiyan, N Anand, Dr KG Arunraj, P Venkataramanan, R Nirmalkumar, Rajmohan, Dr T Prabhu and S Keerthana.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was also present at the mega event which was attended by a sea of Vijay supporters.
The Acting Governor of Tamil Nadu was sworn in on Sunday Rajendra Arlekar.
The election results were announced on 4 May, but tension continued till 9 May, when Vijay struggled to get numbers that crossed 118 seats – the magic number.
But the tension ended when the VCK, which has two seats, finally extended support after keeping TVK on the hook and political circles buzzing over its post for the past two days.
With his swearing-in, Vijay (51) became the first leader outside the DMK and AIADMK formations to head the Tamil Nadu government since 1967.
With the party founded two years ago, Vijay presented himself as an alternative to the traditional Dravidian parties. Vijay identified Periyar as his ideological leader, noting that the party would not accept his atheism unlike the DMK. He also mentioned CN Annadurai, K Kamaraj and BR Ambedkar as party leaders for the idea of social justice.
