CM Vijay breaks ice with oppn on 1st day

CM Vijay breaks ice with oppn on 1st day 

TIMES OF INDIA AHAMEDABAD. 12.05.2026

Chennai : Change was at the core of TVK president C Joseph Vijay’s election campaign. After his first day in assembly as chief minister on Monday, he signalled a pleasant change in political civility by visiting DMK president M K Stalin and other party leaders in their respective homes, reports Ram Sundaram . 

The warm gesture that brought smiles across party lines came a day after Vijay criticising the previous govt for accumulating huge debt and leaving the state treasury “empty”. The day started with a‘cold war’ as DMK legislative party leader Udhayanidhi Stalin did not even look at Vijay. Hours later, however, as Vijay walked into Stalin’s Cenotaph Road house, at the door was Udhayanidhi, waiting to receive the special guest with a hug. 

The CM and his predecessor, too embraced, marking a positive deviation from bitterness that had marked TN politics for long. Holding his hand, Stalin took Vijay to the visitor’s room where they spoke for about 15 minutes. Udhayanidhi, who was seated next to Vijay, gifted the CM a book titled ₹Kaalathin Niram Karuppu Sivappu,’ a collection of essays on DMK’s history and Dravidian ideology. 

While TVK general secretary N Anand accompanied Vijay; senior DMK leaders were present at Stalin’s house. Later, Stalin described the meeting as a gesture of political courtesy. “I extended to him my heartfelt congratulations as well as my advice,” he posted on X. The meeting marked the first known instance since 1967 of a newly sworn-in Tamil Nadu chief minister visiting a former chief minister at his residence immediately after assuming office.