Udhayanidhi Stalin has crossed the lakshman rekha that both he and the DMK seemed to have imposed on themselves – that of giving Vijay the royal ignore. So far on the campaign trail, both Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi and Chief Minister MK Stalin had refrained from making any reference to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay, as the DMK’s assessment was that bringing him into electoral attacks could work to his advantage. Instead, the father-son duo pitched the 2026 election as a direct contest between the DMK-led alliance and the NDA. Or, in Stalin’s phrasing, a battle between Tamil Nadu and Delhi.
Tiruchy, on Friday, saw a change in script. Udayanidhi, campaigning for Inigo Irudayaraj – the DMK candidate in Tiruchy (East) where Vijay is contesting, took an indirect dig at Vijay saying some people are getting tired frequently and taking breaks. This was a reference to his erstwhile colleague from Kollywood not campaigning every day and cancelling several of his planned meetings, either because of lack of permission from the authorities or reaching the venue late. Udhayanidhi also sarcastically said that if Irudayaraj was elected, he would be available to the constituents, unlike Vijay, who the DMK dubs as a ”Work from Home politician”. The pitch was to present the voters of Tiruchy (East) with a choice between a 24×7 representative and an ”elitist”.
”Irudayaraj would search for your home and come to your doorstep to address your problem and not call you over to Chennai to receive help,” he added, in a dig at how the families of the victims in the Karur stampede were called by Vijay to a resort near Chennai to meet him.
But why did Udhayanidhi decide to change its strategy of giving the TVK supremo the silent treatment? Since the venue was Tiruchy (East), Udhayanidhi could not have ignored Vijay, the candidate. By mocking the breaks in Vijay’s campaign trails, the deputy CM was framing the actor as a part-time politician. By contesting in an urban seat in the Cauvery delta region, Vijay is attempting a strike in a DMK stronghold and, therefore, for Udhayanidhi, if Irudayaraj loses to the whistle, it could signify the fall of the DMK’s urban firewall in the delta region. That is why Udhayanidhi is pitching Irudayaraj as the accessible local as opposed to the distant Vijay.
At the same time, it would be a mistake to see jibes like ”no matter how many stars come, the Rising Sun will win” merely as an off-the -cuff remark. Udhayanidhi Stalin, it would seem, was also testing the waters to his tongue-in-cheek jibes. The indirect assault is an admission that when it comes to the urban pockets, the DMK perceives a real threat to its vote share from Vijay.
TVK sources attribute this to the Puducherry effect. The Union Territory witnessed an 89 percent voter turnout on April 9 and the TVK feels that Udhayanidhi Stalin’s decision to acknowledge Vijay’s presence on the electoral scene is because of the data about the party’s showing from Puducherry. While the TVK claim may well be just a boast, the fact remains that the DMK stands to gain if both the NDA and the TVK split votes across urban and rural constituencies in Tamil Nadu. A weak TVK and a strong NDA or a strong TVK and a weak NDA, will make it a bipolar contest against the DMK and could upset the rising sun party’s applecart. One way of looking at Puducherry is to dismiss it as a local phenomenon, the other is to see it as a trailer for the Tamil Nadu blockbuster and, therefore, the pre-emptive strike on Vijay is to prevent the momentum of the shrill whistle, if it is indeed the case, from crossing the border.
The confidence to take on Vijay also comes from how, in the last ten days, Udhayanidhi has managed to successfully get under the skin of Edappadi Palaniswami, framing the AIADMK as a ”slave to Delhi”. EPS, otherwise a composed and dignified politician, uncharacteristically lost control over his tongue on a couple of occasions. Instead of the AIADMK chief presenting his narrative, Udhayanidhi has forced EPS to have a regular banter with him everyday on the campaign trail. Having worked on denting the NDA arithmetic, Udayanidhi’s tactical adjustment in Tiruchy was with an eye to hurting the Vijay chemistry. The narrative he is trying to build is that the election is a choice between governance and glamour.
However, a direct Vijay vs Udayanidhi war of words could be a double-edged sword. On the face of it, most may think that Vijay would have Udaya for breakfast given the size of the crowds he attracts and the fact that he enjoys a far bigger billing in Tamil cinema than the DMK number 2. In fact, that was the reason why the face of the DMK in 2026 is only MK Stalin and nowhere is it being suggested that the baton, if the DMK returns to power, would be soon passed on to the son. But the DMK at the same time, is closely watching Vijay’s moves. The party faithful made Udhayanidhi sport glasses pretty much like how Vijay does or take selfies with the crowds in the background or make reels with a 360 degree view of the surging crowds. Will Udhayanidhi’s attack on Vijay, using a metaphor of a ”cardboard politician”, work for the DMK or boomerang on it?
Interestingly, Vijay and Udhayanidhi go back a long way. In 2008, Udayanidhi’s company, Red Giant’s debut production was ‘Kuruvi’ starring Vijay, to capitalise on his mass hero image. 18 years later, Udhayanidhi is trying to prove that the mass hero carries negligible weight in Tamil Nadu politics.
