Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay may have star power, but his primary antagonist, DMK’s Udhayanidhi Stalin, has increasingly stolen the limelight. Even being detained for an allegedly “double meaning” remark about actor Trisha Krishnan, a close associate of Vijay, seems to have only accelerated his hammer-and-tongs approach.
Most of the high-decibel action currently flows from Tamil Nadu’s Cauvery water dispute with Karnataka. Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi has repeatedly accused Vijay of playing soft on Karnataka’s proposed Mekedatu dam—an upstream project that Tamil Nadu fears could choke off vital river water to its downstream farmers.
At a Cauvery protest rally in Thanjavur on Tuesday—where Udhayanidhi was rallying farmers against the state’s purported inaction—he allegedly made an ‘offensive’ remark when the crowd started chanting Trisha’s name. He was swiftly arrested and then released on station bail after hours of questioning. But immediately thereafter, he doubled down on his attack. Dismissing his arrest as a “comedy” engineered through “cut, copy, paste” video edits, he accused the TVK government of using police intimidation to distract from farmers’ demands and the state budget.
At the state Assembly on Friday, Udhayanidhi demanded an all-party meeting on Mekedatu and questioned why Tamil Nadu wasn’t presenting a “united front” like Karnataka. Vijay defended his administration’s actions by pointing out that the state government had already passed a unanimous Assembly resolution against the dam and written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. He added that there was “no need” for an all-party meeting and that his government wouldn’t engage in “cheap politics”.
In a state still adjusting to the end of the Dravidian duopoly, the Cauvery row has intensified the increasingly personalised contest between Udhayanidhi and Vijay’s new TVK government. And that is why Udhayanidhi Stalin is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.
The current fight is no isolated case. From the very first days of the TVK government, Udhayanidhi Stalin set an aggressive opposition tone.
Just two days after Vijay’s swearing-in, in his maiden speech as Leader of the Opposition on 12 May, he revived the contentious Sanatana Dharma debate by declaring that the ideology “which divides the people, must certainly be abolished.” He also sharply criticised the protocol breach at the oath-taking ceremony in which Vande Mataram was played before the Tamil Thai Vazhthu. This early confrontation established a pattern of personal and ideological attacks that has continued ever since, especially over what Udhayanidhi has repeatedly framed as Vijay’s silence on key state issues.
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Udhayanidhi as the Leader of Opposition
Udhayanidhi’s elevation as Leader of Opposition this May is the latest chapter in the DMK’s generational transition. He leads 59 MLAs in the 17th Tamil Nadu Assembly, tasked with holding the TVK government accountable while rebuilding the Dravidian party’s momentum from the opposition benches. As party president, his father and former CM Stalin is now largely a mentor and guide.
DMK spokesperson Syed Hafeez told ThePrint that Udhayanidhi’s nearly decade-long political journey and grooming within the party had prepared him for the responsibility.
“He has been into active politics since 2017 and for nearly a decade, he has contributed to the party when we were in opposition, and then as Deputy CM when in power,” Hafeez said.
Udhayanidhi’s dual emphasis on ideological grounding and cadre empowerment has been key to his rise, according to Hafeez.
“Udhayanidhi has always thought of educating the people before empowering them,” Hafeez noted, pointing to Kalaithniram—a compilation of over 100 essays on Dravidian philosophy and politics that Udhayanidhi frequently gifts to those interested in Tamil Nadu history.
Beyond ideology, party leaders cite his administrative record as Deputy CM, particularly in building sports infrastructure and advancing welfare schemes, as proof of his ability to deliver.
“DMK is a tough material and we have seen big victories and big losses. This [DMK’s ouster] is one such episode,” Hafeez added. “Every cadre of the party is trained to deal with this and so is the Leader of Opposition. He has been trained and groomed for these roles. Now he has a big responsibility and we are sure he will fulfil it well.”
Attacks on TVK
Never has Udhayanidhi been more visible than since TVK came to power. He has repeatedly made headlines for attacking the government.
Two weeks after Vijay was sworn in, he claimed that the law-and-order situation in the state had already deteriorated.
“In Tamil Nadu, in the past 15 days, 25 murders, 4 double murders, 19 sexual crimes—these are only the incidents that have made it to the news… Is this Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh?” he posted on X.
As the weeks progressed, he accused the TVK government of failing on its core campaign promise of women’s safety. In June, he said, the state had seen 175 sexual offences and 65 murders within the first 40 days of the new dispensation.
He has also claimed that the TVK has an ‘understanding’ with the BJP. After
Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar delivered his customary address to the state assembly on 18 June, Udhayanidhi told reporters: “The Governor read out the complete speech prepared by the TVK government, which praised the CM and was filled with reel content. This never happened during the DMK rule. This shows the BJP and TVK have an understanding.”
These charges quickly escalated into Assembly protests and street-level confrontations, with DMK MLAs staging demonstrations inside the Secretariat. Meanwhile, TVK dismissed them as attempts to destabilise a new government still finding its feet.
The conflict has become personal as well.
When Vijay concluded his Assembly speech on 23 June with what he called a “kutty story”—a satirical tale about a boy searching for his missing father in what was seen as a dig at MK Stalin’s absence from the House—Udhayanidhi attacked it on X.
“His rambling about telling a ‘kutty story’ is completely against the dignity of the House,” he wrote. He added that the story of “a wife searching for her husband in the Chengalpattu court is known to the whole of Tamil Nadu.” The counter-remark was widely seen as a reference to reports that Vijay’s wife Sangeetha Sornalingam had filed for divorce in the Chengalpattu Family Court.
Then came the most recent and explosive controversy over the Cauvery water dispute.
At a farmers’ protest in Thanjavur, Udhayanidhi accused Vijay of remaining silent while Tamil Nadu received “not even a single drop” of water and of being preoccupied with filing cases against the opposition.
When sections of the crowd chanted actor Trisha’s name, his response was widely interpreted as a sexually suggestive double entendre. The remark triggered an FIR under multiple sections, his detention and overnight questioning, and a statewide political storm.
After his release on station bail, he added: “I did not speak with any wrongful or malicious intent. I was arrested simply for speaking in support of farmers. My words had only one meaning. I never intended to insult anyone… They treated me like a terrorist and transported me by road all the way to Thanjavur.”
The very next day, Udhayanidhi criticised the renaming of DMK-era schemes as political score-settling following the Tamil Nadu budget announcement. He called the budget a “massive zero”, adding that the government had merely rebranded or renamed existing DMK schemes (such as attaching the word “Vetri” to the laptop distribution programme) without presenting any clear roadmap.
“This budget is merely a ‘remake version’ of the Dravidian Model government’s existing schemes,” he said.
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‘It is going to be a test’
Despite his all-guns-blazing start as Leader of the Opposition, Udhayanidhi faces a tougher test ahead. Political analyst Sumanth Raman told ThePrint that some of Udhayanidhi’s well-wishers were unsure whether he was ready for such an aggressive confrontation with Vijay so early in his tenure.
“Well-wishers of Udhayanidhi are not happy with him taking on Vijay so easily,” he said.
Observers say the real test will lie in Udhayanidhi’s ability to sharpen his legislative interventions, criticise the government without letting every attack spiral into controversy, and project a credible alternative rooted in Dravidian ideology.
“He will have huge challenges… his assembly performance has not been very active in the past and there will be a pressure on him to perform. It also depends on how Vijay performs as well. It is going to be a test for him,” said Raman.
He added, however, that Udhayanidhi would have the steadying hand of senior leaders such as KN Nehru, Sekar Babu and Thangam Thennarasu to help him stay on course.
“The good thing is that he has about 60 people to support him and there are seniors to guide him,” Raman added.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)