Chennai: Wild and unsubstantiated speculations raging in various sections of the media for the past few days over State Minister for Youth Affairs, Udhayanidhi Stalin, being elevated to the post of Deputy Chief Minister and a possible reshuffle of the State cabinet with the induction of new faces and axing of old hands fizzled out on Friday as the auspicious ‘Aadi Friday’ passed off uneventfully.
The rumours that even made it to the news bulletins of national channels had it that the reshuffle and the appointment of new Deputy Chief Minister could happen on Aadi Friday. Now the same rumour mongers say that since Aadi is not the month for starting new ventures, the political changes would happen in the next Tamil month, ahead of Chief Minister M K Stalin’s proposed visit to the US.
The DMK would like to have Udhayanidhi Stalin at the helm of affairs when the Chief Minister was away and his elevation as Deputy Chief Minister would facilitate that, party sources said though no one could say when it would happen.
Actually, conjectures over reshuffle in the State Ministry with some key portfolios being handed over to select Ministers, including Udhayanidhi Stalin, was triggered by the recent overhaul in the bureaucracy and the police department following a series of unsavoury incidents like the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy and the killing of BSP State president Armstrong.
Since the government has less than two more years to go, it would like to witness more such disasters unfolding in the State and would like to tighten the screws on the law and order machinery and also the administration by appointing right people in the Cabinet and government since the 2026 elections were crucial for the DMK.
Udhayandhi Stalin, who was making efforts to strengthen the DMK’s youth wing that enters the 45th year on Saturday by opening district-wise pages in its website, also gave a clarion call to the cadre to prepare for the 2026 Assembly elections, warning them of the machinations of rivals to undermine the DMK by launching smear campaigns against the pioneers of the Dravidian movement.
Launched on July 20, 1980, by M Karunanidhi, at Madurai, the youth wing had fostered political talents over the years with the first secretary M K Stalin becoming the party president and Chief Minister and many others growing up to take up important responsibilities in the party, Parliament, Legislature and government, he said in his message.
He warned the youth wing workers of fascist forces out in the open to disrupt the growth of the State in the fields of education, industry, medicine and infrastructure development by dividing the people on communal and caste lines and creating hatred among them for political gains.
