Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and his Cabinet ministers skipped the "At Home" reception hosted by Governor R N Ravi to celebrate the Republic Day, and attended the party event in Thanjavur on Monday evening.
A senior official at the Secretariat said Chief Secretary N Muruganandam and Additional Chief Secretary (Home department) Dheeraj Kumar, represented the state government at the "At Home" reception, a traditional garden party hosted twice a year on Republic Day and Independence Day by the Governor at his official residence here.
The opposition AIADMK was represented by former state minister and party's organising secretary D Jayakumar, while the BJP and DMDK were represented by Nainar Nagenthran and L Sudhish respectively.
Former Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan,TMC founder G K Vasan, and senior officials from the defence forces were also among those who participated.
Earlier, the Governor, accompanied by his wife Laxmi Ravi, greeted the guests who had gathered at the Lok Bhavan.
After attending the state-level Republic Day celebration near the Labour Statue on the Marina beach front, along with his son and deputy Udhayanidhi, in the morning, Stalin left for Thanjavur later in the day and inducted hundreds of people into the DMK.
Scores of members, including those supporting former AIADMK state minister R Vaithilingam joined the DMK.
Vaithilingam himself had joined the DMK in the presence of Stalin recently.
Later, Stalin, who is the president of DMK, addressed the party's women's wing conference at Sengipatti.
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