From 'Sarkar' to Secretariat: How Vijay became Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister after a political week that changed the state

At 10:18 am on Sunday morning, inside a packed Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, Chandrasekar Joseph Vijay raised his hand and took the oath of office as Tamil Nadu's ninth Chief Minister. Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar administered the oath. The crowd erupted. Outside, firecrackers split the morning air across the state. Somewhere in T Nagar, people watching on LED screens broke down and wept.

Three Files, Three Promises — Within the First Hour

Vijay did not wait. Within minutes of Governor Arlekar leaving the stadium after the ceremony, the new Chief Minister walked to his desk and signed three files. The first approved 200 units of free electricity for every household in Tamil Nadu. The second cleared the formation of a special task force to combat the state's growing drug menace. The third established a dedicated mechanism to strengthen women's safety across Tamil Nadu. Three files. Three issues that had sat at the heart of TVK's election campaign — cost of living, narcotics, and the safety of women in public and private spaces. The symbolism of acting on all three within the first hour of taking office was deliberate and unmistakable.

The Week That Nearly Wasn't

The election results on May 4 told one story. The week that followed told quite another.

TVK emerged as the single largest party with 108 seats in the 234-member assembly — a stunning debut by any measure. The majority mark stood at 118. That ten-seat gap became the most consequential number in Tamil Nadu politics for seven days straight.

Congress came in early, bringing five MLAs. CPI and CPI(M) added two each, pushing the tally to 116. Still two short. And then Tamil Nadu descended into one of the most chaotic government-formation episodes in recent memory.

VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan sent signals that shifted by the hour — publicly suggesting support, then issuing cautious statements, then going silent altogether. TVK leaders reportedly spent two hours on Friday night unable to reach him by phone. IUML, which had initially appeared open to lending support, slammed the door shut with a blunt statement: "We were with DMK yesterday, are with it today, and will remain with it tomorrow."

Then came the allegations. AMMK chief TTV Dhinakaran accused TVK of using a forged support letter carrying the signature of his MLA Kamaraj from Mannargudi. TVK hit back with a video it claimed showed Kamaraj signing the letter with Dhinakaran's own approval. A police complaint was filed. The Governor called off a planned Saturday swearing-in. Reports emerged of Congress MLAs quietly leaving for Hyderabad. For several hours, the question was no longer who would be Chief Minister — it was whether Tamil Nadu was heading toward President's Rule.

The Left parties held firm through all of it, framing their support for Vijay as a constitutional duty to honour the people's mandate. By Saturday evening, the pieces finally fell into place. VCK sent its letter. IUML reversed course after two earlier refusals, citing democratic responsibility and the need to prevent President's Rule. The final tally reached 120. The Governor issued the appointment order. The swearing-in was confirmed for Sunday morning.

The Man Behind the Moment

To understand what Sunday meant, it helps to go back to November 2018 and a film called Sarkar.

Vijay played Sundar Ramaswamy — an NRI businessman who flies home to vote, only to discover his ballot has already been cast in his name. What unfolds is a two-hour cinematic indictment of electoral fraud, political corruption, and a system that treats voters as an afterthought. By the film's end, Sundar Ramaswamy is not just reclaiming his vote — he is contesting an election and winning it.

In February 2024, Vijay announced he was leaving films permanently and launching Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. No senior party endorsed him. No political family name backed him. No alliance with either DMK or AIADMK. Just a new party, an untested organisation, and whatever goodwill two decades of cinema had built.

What TVK did in the two years between its launch and polling day was unglamorous and methodical. Booth-level organising across all 234 constituencies. A massive party conference in October 2024 at Vikravandi that drew extraordinary crowds. A manifesto aimed squarely at those most likely to feel the distance between political promises and lived reality — women, students, first-time voters, daily wage earners.

On election day, Tamil Nadu recorded a voter turnout of 85.1 percent — the highest ever in a state assembly election. Across 32 of the state's 38 districts, more than 80 percent of registered voters turned out. In some constituencies the numbers exceeded 90 percent. When counting began on May 4, TVK led in over a hundred seats within hours. The DMK, which had won 159 seats in 2021, was trailing badly. The AIADMK was fighting for its own survival.

His First Words as Chief Minister

When Vijay spoke to the crowd at the stadium, he did not sound like a politician delivering a victory address. He sounded, by turns, overwhelmed, grateful and determined.

"I don't know how to begin or what to say at this emotional moment," he said. "I did not come from a prince's family. I came from among you like a member of your family, like your brother. You embraced me with love and gave me a great place in the cinema. All of you asked me to enter politics, saying 'we are with you,' and today you have made me the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu."

He acknowledged he was not infallible. "I am not a messenger from God. I am just a normal human being. But when people stand together with me, I believe we can achieve anything and face every challenge together, whatever comes."

On governance, he was unambiguous — no false promises, no misuse of public money, no corruption tolerated. He said his government intended to release a white paper on Tamil Nadu's finances, citing a debt burden of nearly Rs 10 lakh crore left by the previous DMK administration. He stressed there would be no parallel power centres — he alone would be the authority. Calling his tenure the beginning of a new era of secular and social justice governance, he thanked Congress, VCK and the Left parties for their support.

The floor test is due on or before May 13. Four ministers — N Anand, Aadhav Arjuna, Dr K G Arunraj and K A Sengottaiyan — have already been sworn in, giving the cabinet its initial shape. Beyond that immediate test lies the harder work of governing a state carrying a massive debt burden, entrenched social challenges, and the expectations of the 85.1 percent of Tamil Nadu voters who turned out in record numbers.

Eight years ago, a fictional character named Sundar Ramaswamy stood before Tamil Nadu and said: use your vote, it belongs to you. Tamil Nadu watched, applauded and went home. This time, Tamil Nadu went to the polls in record numbers and put the man who played that character in the Chief Minister's chair. The credits are not rolling. The interval has not arrived. What happens next is entirely unscripted — and the state that handed Vijay this mandate will be watching every scene.