Vijay's Power-Dressing Move During Oath, Ditches Traditional Shirt-Vesti

When C Joseph Vijay walked into Chennai's Nehru Stadium to take oath as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, the ecstatic crowd erupted into a huge applause with cameras panning everywhere. It was indeed Vijay's star moment after a huge blockbuster - except this time, a political one.

But what caught the attention was Vijay's choice of clothing for the big event - a sleek black suit.

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Photo Credit: PTI

The well-tailored black suit paired with a white shirt gave Vijay a refined and formal appearance, but broke the decades of Tamil Nadu political traditions that favoured a white shirt-and-dhoti attire - long associated with the state's political class. According to sources, Vijay had specially designed the suit and kept it ready as soon as the election results showed his TVK emerging as the single-largest party.

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The colour back appears to also be associated with Periyar E V Ramasamy, symbolising his Dravidian movement. Periyarists usually wear black shirts and use black flags to challenge traditional authority and promote self-respect.

Vijay's choice of clothing also seemed to be a modern power-dressing move.

Photo Credit: PTI

After his 'star-style' oath, 'Thalapathy' Vijay, in his first speech as Chief Minister, made it clear that there is only one power in Tamil Nadu, and that is him. 

"There will be no power centre other than me. I will be the only centre of power," he said, asserting control over his decision-making. 

His remark appeared to reassure the people of Tamil Nadu that the TVK-led government would not be under any pressure from any alliance partner to do their bidding.

Vijay, who introduced himself as 'Thambi' (younger brother), also sent a message to his political rivals saying whoever plans to "do wrong" and destabilise the government should abandon such ideas. "I will not do wrong and will not let others with me do wrong either. If anyone has wrong ideas, delete them right away," he said.

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Vijay thanked all the DMK allies who supported him to get the 'magic number' of 118 to form a government, and referred to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as his "brother". "I thank Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Parliament my brother Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Selvaperunthagai, and Praveen Chakravarthy, CPM leaders P Shanmugam and Su Venkatesan, VCK leaders Thol Thirumavalavan, Ravikumar, and Vanniarasu, and CPI leader M Veerapandian," he said.

Along with Vijay, nine other TVK leaders were sworn in as his ministers. Congress, CPI(M), VCK, and IUML leaders who have given support to the TVK government formation may take the oath at a later stage after portfolio discussions are completed.