C Joseph Vijay on Monday met his predecessor and DMK chief MK Stalin at the latter’s Alwarpet residence in Chennai, a day after the TVK chief was sworn in as Tamil Nadu’s new Chief Minister.
Sources described the meeting as a “courtesy call”, with Vijay leaving for Stalin’s residence shortly after beginning his first full day in office. The interaction comes after an intensely fought Assembly election campaign that ended with Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) dethroning Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in a surprise outcome for a political novice.
#WATCH | Chennai: Tamil Nadu CM Vijay meets former CM and DMK President MK Stalin and former Dy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin at their residence.
(Source: DMK) pic.twitter.com/xsmH7uzoeZ
— ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2026
Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi Stalin welcomed Vijay during the visit, which marked the first meeting between the two leaders after the election results and Vijay assuming office as Chief Minister, news agency ANI’s visuals showed.
The meeting assumes political significance because it comes days after the Indian National Congress formally broke its long-standing alliance with the DMK and backed Vijay’s TVK to form the government. DMK reportedly took affront to this and requested seating for its MPs away from the Congress in Parliament. Meanwhile, Congress leaders had described the new alignment as a long-term political partnership extending beyond government formation to future local body, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha elections.
Vijay, who took oath on Sunday at Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, had framed his victory as the beginning of “a new era of real, secular social justice”. In his first address as Chief Minister, he accused the previous DMK government of leaving Tamil Nadu in a “bad shape” financially and announced that his government would soon release a White Paper on the state’s finances, claiming the state was burdened with nearly Rs 10 lakh crore in debt.
Stalin had responded sharply to Vijay’s remarks, saying the new Chief Minister would “learn soon the nuances of how to fulfil the promises made to the people.”
The meeting also came amid continuing political churn in Tamil Nadu, with visible signs of unrest emerging within the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) after its poor electoral performance. Party MLAs arrived separately for the Assembly oath-taking ceremony on Monday, fuelling speculation of internal divisions over the party’s future strategy towards the Vijay-led government.
Earlier in the day, Vijay took oath as an MLA in the Tamil Nadu Assembly along with his Cabinet colleagues and newly elected legislators. Security was heightened outside Stalin’s residence ahead of the Chief Minister’s arrival. Visuals later showed Vijay leaving the former Chief Minister’s residence after the meeting.
VIDEO | Chennai: Tamil Nadu CM Vijay leaves former CM M K Stalin’s residence.
(Full video available on https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/0hfOmFUMrK
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 11, 2026
Despite the sharp political exchanges in recent days, Monday’s meeting signalled a softer public moment between the two rivals after one of Tamil Nadu’s most consequential elections in decades, while also drawing attention to a major political transition after decades of the Dravidian party’s dominance in the state.
