Udhayanidhi makes guest appearance for pal in Assembly

It is common knowledge in political circles that in order to gauge how powerful a minister is, all you have to do is to head to the visitor’s gallery in the Secretariat when she/he presents the demand for grants for his department in the Assembly. You will find the relatives or who’s who in a minister’s family occupying the VIP or visitors gallery . 

However, on Tuesday, the gallery hosted a surprise visitor when ministers OS Manian and Dr Nilofar Kafeel presented their demands for grants. The ‘star’ presence was actor Udhayanidhi Stalin. For a moment, the watch and ward staff and a few DMK MLAs assumed that the actor had accompanied his grandfather M Karunanidhi, who, incidentally, made his first appearance after the new government’s formation.

It slowly dawned on all that the actor had not come to lend ears to the ministers or help his grandfather, but merely to cheer his friend and debutant MLA from Tiruverumbur Mahesh Poyyamozhi wax eloquent. Yes. Udhayinidhi, a close friend of Mahesh Poyyamozhi, sat through the whole afternoon session amid his busy acting schedule. “His (Udhayanidhi) friend is speaking today. Is he not?” a DMK source close to them said, when DT Next asked about the surprise visit. 

A source in the party inner circle said that the debutant MLA from Tiruchy normally addresses Leader of Opposition MK Stalin as “uncle” even at party events as he and Udhayanidhi are close friends. Meanwhile, Mahesh did not disappoint either his friend or his party seniors. His maiden speech left the Assembly proceedings affected for nearly an hour, courtesy the heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches, which would have enthralled even the actor in Udhayanidhi. 

Later, it became apparent that the DMK supremo had arrived for the customary half-yearly signing of the register in the Assembly (a practice started by the late MGR when he fell out of favour with the DMK before floating the AIADMK).