Villupuram (Tamil Nadu): Months after announcing his political party, Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), actor Vijay came to a rousing reception at the party's first public meeting. He is expected to spell out his political agenda and vision for the state during his keenly watched maiden public meeting here on Sunday.
Vijay has announced facing the 2026 Assembly polls, spicing up the political battlefield long dominated by the Dravidian rivals DMK and the AIADMK, with a resurgent BJP under K Annamalai making some impressive strides in this year's Lok Sabha polls. The saffron party is also keen to put up a good show in the hustings in 2026.
Vijay, whose movies have been top grossers, unveiled his party in February this year, joining a list of Tamil cinema celebrities who had taken the political plunge.
He had unveiled the TVK party flag recently and the Sunday public conference at Vikravandi in this district is being keenly watched by political parties, observers and people alike as he is all set to unveil his vision for the state and the political agenda.
Although, the 50 year-old actor-politician has given adequate hints of not deviating from the current political trends, as he has spoken out against NEET, a political hot potato in Tamil Nadu. A number of medical aspirants, starting from S Anitha of Ariyalur way back in 2017 have ended their lives over either failure to crack the qualifying test or due to fears of unable to clear it.
That the conference venue had cutouts of Dravidian stalwart EV Ramasamy 'Periyar', besides that of BR Ambedkar gave ample hints of his party's principles. A cutout of veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister K Kamaraj was also spotted at the venue.
Tamil Nadu has always been opposed to NEET, with both the AIADMK in the past and the ruling DMK piloting Assembly resolutions calling for a 'ban' on NEET.
Vijay's latest film, the big budget, multi-starrer 'GOAT' is said to be his swansong work.
With their leader all set to address them later in the day, his supporters started thronging the conference venue early on Sunday, braving the hot sun and with a hope to catch a glimpse of their 'Thalapathy,' or the Commander as he is addressed by them.
Vijay is the latest big ticket entrant to the political landscape of Tamil Nadu, with actor Kamal Haasan being the last one to launch his Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) about six years ago. Prior to that, the late Vijayakanth had launched his Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam way back in 2005 and tasted electoral success, although Hassan has not been in a similar league.
While superstar Rajinikanth had announced taking the political plunge a few years ago, he later backtracked citing health reasons.
The iconic M G Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR, is seen as the trendsetter of cinema-to-politics graduation, when he founded the AIADMK in 1972 after being expelled from the DMK by its then chief M Karunanidhi. MGR later went on to rule the state from 1977-87 till his death. His protege, yesteryear actor, the late J Jayalalithaa also is also a former CM.
Karunanidhi was also involved in cinema, as a screenplay and dialogue writer. Other actors, including MGR's contemporary, late thespian Sivaji Ganesan and K Bhagyaraj too dabbled in politics briefly with their own respective parties and outfits.
