According to DMK sources, Udhayanidhi Stalin, Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development of Tamil Nadu, will also be elevated soon as the Deputy Chief Minister. This could happen before Chief Minister M.K. Stalin leaves for the US on August 22, added the sources.
Udhayanidhi Stalin is the Youth Wing chief of the DMK and was inducted into the Cabinet in December 2022. Earlier too, he held the Deputy Chief Minister's post in 2009, when his father M Karunanidhi was heading the Government—the biggest career growth in politics those days.
Insiders said Udhayanidhi Stalin is likely to be projected as the face of the DMK in the 2026 Assembly elections, since indications are that M.K. Stalin may not contest the elections. Plans to make Udhayanidhi the Deputy Chief Minister have been kept in abeyance after the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy in which 65 people died and the timing and priorities were revised by the party leadership.
