Anthony Sami, John Rose Peter and Kumar were shot dead by Karnataka Forest Department personnel on 15 August. CM Vijay called it a massacre; the Assembly has moved a call-attention motion seeking a high-level probe.
Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Thursday afternoon quietly left the Chief Minister's designated chair in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and sat down between two of his ministers in the front row — a casual move that immediately broke a decades-long seating convention and drew attention across the House.
By long-standing convention, the Chief Minister occupies a separate, spacious chair positioned to the right of the Speaker's chair. Ministers are seated in the front row next to the CM in order of seniority. Vijay moved from that designated position and sat between Ministers K. A. Sengottaiyan (Leader of the House) and Aadhav Arjuna in the front row — ministers, not a CM in a CM's chair.
The move was described by PTI as a “major departure from a long-standing tradition vis-à-vis seating.” No explanation was given; the move appeared spontaneous and informal during the afternoon proceedings.
Assembly seating has symbolic weight in Tamil Nadu. The Chief Minister's chair is a visual marker of executive authority — separate, prominent, and positionally distinct from the front bench. Every Chief Minister since MGR has observed this separation, which reflects both formal protocol and the understood hierarchy of the House.
The move attracted immediate attention from members across the aisle and observers in the press gallery. It was read in different ways — as a gesture of solidarity with his council, as deliberate informality, or simply as Vijay being unconventional. He did not address it from the floor.
The same Assembly day saw the Nepal rescue crisis dominating proceedings, with a call-attention motion and ministerial response. Vijay had also chaired a high-level review at the Secretariat on the same day and dispatched four ministers to Delhi. The seating move occurred in the middle of what was already an unusually charged sitting.
Assembly Convention Vijay Leadership Style August 27, 2026