Thalapathy Vijay set to take oath as Tamil Nadu chief minister on Sat

Film Actor C Joseph Vijay, also known as Thalapathy Vijay, will take oath as the chief minister of India’s Tamil Nadu state at 11am on Saturday, alliance partners have confirmed.

On Friday, he secured the backing of 11 lawmakers from like-minded secular parties to claim the required majority of 118 seats in the state assembly, reports the Indian Express and Hindustan Times.

Afterwards, he met the state’s governor for the third time since the results were announced on 4 May, and staked his claim to the next state government.

Earlier, he secured the support of 116 lawmakers, including 107 from his newly founded TVK party and five from Congress. However, the leftist parties, CPI (M) and CPI, were the holdouts, refusing to give the last two required lawmakers to the emerging bloc.

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge reportedly held talks with the smaller parties to secure their backing for the TVK.