Articles
Long-form essays from TN Verdict — the people, the patterns and the politics shaping Tamil Nadu beyond the spreadsheets.
The TVK Story
6 articles
2 Jun 20267 min readThe Builder Who Got AI
R. Kumar built a ₹117-crore fortune in concrete and granite — the most physical industry there is. Then Joseph Vijay handed him the most abstract portfolio in the cabinet: Tamil Nadu's first dedicated ministry for Artificial Intelligence.
1 Jun 20267 min readFrom Srirangam to the Secretariat
S. Ramesh won the seat of the world's largest functioning temple, then was handed the department that runs nearly all of them. Within a week of taking oath he walked into Tiruchendur in a mask to catch a bribe. He is thirty-one.
11 May 20267 min readFrom the Dentist's Chair to the Secretariat
Dr. T. K. Prabhu walked away from a thriving Karaikudi dental practice to work full-time for TVK. Then he unseated an incumbent Congress MLA and pushed NTK's Seeman into third place in the same booth. Six days later, he was sworn into Tamil Nadu's Cabinet.
11 May 202610 min readThe Rise of Joseph Vijay
He fought without an ally on the ballot. He won anyway. How a generation made a Chief Minister out of the silent, decade-long accumulation that no analyst measured, or was willing to disclose.
11 May 20268 min readDoctor. Ex-IRS. Now Minister.
K. G. Arunraj trained as a doctor at Madras Medical College, then cleared UPSC, then ran some of South India's biggest tax raids. Then, at 46, he walked into a TVK office and asked for a job. Tiruchengodu gave him the rest.
11 May 20269 min readThe Ninth Time MLA, in a New Colour
K. A. Sengottaiyan has won an MLA's chair from Gobichettipalayam in five different decades. In 2026, at 78, he walked into Joseph Vijay's TVK office, took a silk shawl on his shoulder, and walked out to win the seat one more time, in a colour his constituency had never voted before.
