Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president and legislature party leader MK Stalin is set to take oath as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu on Friday. Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purhohit will administer the oath of office to Stalin and his Council of Ministers.

The swearing-in will be a simple function held at the Raj Bhavan at 9 am on May 7 due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

After defeating the AIADMK-BJP alliance in 2021 Assembly elections, Stalin is set to form the next government in the state. The DMK-led alliance won the April 6 Assembly elections, winning 133 of the 234 seats itself, while alliance partners Congress won 18, the VCK four and the two Left parties two seats each.

Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about the next Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin:

  1. His full name is Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin and he was named after the famous former Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin.
  2. MK Stalin was rejected admission in several schools on account of the controversy surrounding his name. He was then got admission in Madras Christian College School.
  3. MK Stalin is former CM and DMK Chief M Karunanidhi’s third son, born to his second wife Dayalu Ammal.
  4. MK Stalin has two brothers and two sisters.
  5. MK Stalin began his political career at age 14 by campaigning in the 1967 assembly elections.
  6. MK Stalin is married to Durga Stalin since 1975 and the couple has two children – Udhayanidhi and Senthamarai.
  7. MK Stalin was arrested in 1975 under Maintenance of Internal Security Act for protesting against the Emergency declared by the central government.
  8. MK Stalin is an ardent lover of sports, arts and cultural activities and spends most of his time playing cricket, badminton and chess.
  9. MK Stalin was the 37th Mayor of Chennai from 1996 to 2002.
  10. He was the first Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 2009 to 2011.
  11. On 3 January 2013, Late. M Karunanidhi named MK Stalin as his heir apparent, thus ending a long time confusion about who would take over the party reins after Karunanidhi’s death. On 28 August 2018, he was elected unanimously as the DMK chief after Karunanidhi died.