Tamil Nadu CM Makes Unprecedented Move, Sits Among Ministers in Assembly

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Thursday got up from his chair in the state assembly and sat in the front row along with ministers. This is perhaps the first time that a chief minister has got up from his official chair to speak to his colleagues. Usually, the chief minister sits in a separate and bigger chair near the speaker's chair. Ministers sit separately in the front row according to their seniority next to him. The front row is occupied by the leader of the opposition and the leaders of the legislative parties. In the afternoon session on Thursday, Chief Minister Vijay got up from his chair to the right of Speaker JCD Prabhakar and sat between ministers KA Sengottaiyan (who is also the leader of the house) and Aadhav Arjun. Usually, ministers or MLAs switch places briefly to talk to their colleagues, but this is probably the first time that a chief minister does so.