Filmmaker to Deputy Chief Minister, how Udhayanidhi rose in DMK govt

PTI Chennai: I don’t know whether I will win or lose...But I will fight sincerely till the very end,” from Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Tamil flick ‘Manithan,’ would help understand how he in politics too used such simple and effective messaging and the manner in which it contributed to jump start his political career path. In the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, in order to target the BJP-led Centre, Udhayanidhi came up with his “29 paisa” campaign. He repeatedly attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “29 paisa Modi” as the Centre returned only “29 paisa out of every one rupee paid as tax” to the Union government by the state and this helped the ruling DMK further strengthen its narrative against the BJP and its allies that the state suffered at the hands of the Saffron party-led dispensation.

On September 28, 2024 Udhayanidhi Stalin was elevated as Deputy Chief Minister. Born on November 27, 1977, Udhayanidhi’s real innings in his party began with his appointment as DMK youth wing secretary in July 2019 and under his leadership, the party reaffirmed its goal to inculcate the Dravidian spirit into party cadres by organising ideology based wo rkshops and interactions and the focus remained on using technology to reachout to more and more youths and increase party membership. Also, several other initiatives like the youth wing conference and a state-wide motorcycle rally enthused cadres and helped build his image further as a go-getter.

In the 2021 Assembly polls, he was hugely successful with his ‘single brick’ campaign to send across a message to people that the Madurai AIIMS project of the BJP-led Centre remained a non-starter though it was announced in the 2015-16 Union Budget. It was arguably the first time he outshone his colleagues in the party and several leaders vied with each other to praise him for his natural ability to connect with the people. Last year, Udhayanidhi’s comments on Sanatan Dharma led to a nation-wide controversy, it, helped party to reiterate and convince its key political constituencieshat his comments were a reflection of party ideology to eradicate practices.