Joseph Vijay takes oath as Tamil Nadu's new chief minister

Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president, actor turned politician, Chandrasekar Joseph Vijay has taken his oath as Tamil Nadu's new chief minister.

Vijay took five days, four meetings with the governor and unending negotiations with potential allies to cross the magic majority mark of 118 in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

The 51-year-old actor-turned-politician, whose TVK won 108 of 234 seats in last month's elections, met Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Saturday and claimed the support of five MLAs of Congress, two lawmakers of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), and two each from the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

Since Vijay was elected from two constituencies and will have to vacate one seat, the alliance's total stands at 120 MLAs.

Vijay's government is the first non-DMK, non-AIADMK government in nearly 60 years in Tamil Nadu.