5 facts about Udhayanidhi Stalin who is likely to be Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister
The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or DMK government in Tamil Nadu is likely to elevate sports minister Udhayanidhi Stalin to deputy chief minister.
DMK party cadres and leaders want the Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin’s son to become the deputy chief minister, a move which will be a “huge advantage” for the party in the 2026 assembly elections, a senior party leader said told news agency PTI.
DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi, however, made it clear that party president and CM Stalin will take the final call on the matter.
This move is similar to that of his father, MK Stalin, who became deputy chief minister after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
DMK’s youth wing leader and MLA from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency, Udhayanidhi, was sworn-in as a minister of the DMK cabinet in December 2022.
According to a senior DMK leader on Thursday, party cadres and leaders are read to “anoint” Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of MK Stalin as his father’s deputy, keeping in mind 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections.
Udhayanidhi Stalin is currently handling the state’s youth welfare and sports development ministry and special programme implementation department and poverty alleviation programme and rural indebtedness ministry. He was appointed in his father’s ministry in December 2022.
Here are five facts about Tamil Nadu’s potential Deputy CM
Udhayanidhi Stallin won from the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni assembly constituency during 2021 assembly election and entered the cabinet after a year. According to multiple reports he was instrumental in ending the AIADMK rule which had lasted a decade.
During his stint as an MLA at Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni prior to entering the cabinet, Udhayanidhi had introduced robotic sewer cleaner to replace manual scavengers, which was one of DMK’s poll promises during the elections in that year.
Udhayanidhi is the grandson of DMK great, M Karunanidhi who is the longest serving CM of the state ruling for 6863 days, across five terms. His father MK Stalin had also served as deputy chief minister from 2009 to 2011 when Karunanidhi was the CM.
In September 2023, Udhayanidhi triggered political row with his comments on the Sanatana Dharma.
At a meeting organised by Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Artists Association in Chennai, he said, “Just like dengue, mosquitoes, malaria, or coronavirus need to be eradicated, we have to eradicate Sanatana.”
He had a acting stint which started with a cameo role in Aadhavan, a Tamil movie in 2009. His first role as lead came in 2012, with Oru Kal Oru Kannadi directed M Rajesh for which he bagged the Filmfare’s Best Male Debut Special Award. According to IMDb, Udhayanidhi has acted in around 18 movies, with his last outing in 2023 with Mari Selvaraj directorial, Maamannan, a movie on caste politics. He has also worked as a producer and distributor of multiple tamil movies.