Following Udhayanidhi Stalin's contentious comments about actor Trisha

Chennai: High drama across the state capital on Tuesday as the Tamil Nadu Police officially detained Leader of the Opposition and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin. 

The police intervention occurred shortly after an FIR was registered against him over controversial, double-meaning remarks widely interpreted as targeting actor Trisha Krishnan.

A heavy contingent of police personnel was deployed outside Udhayanidhi’s Chennai residence before his detention. 

Meanwhile, the opposition leader has moved the Madras High Court seeking urgent anticipatory bail, with the court scheduled to take up his petition in the afternoon session.

The scandal erupted during a DMK-led demonstration in Thanjavur focused on the ongoing Cauvery water dispute. 

Addressing a massive crowd of party cadres, Udhayanidhi mounted a sharp political attack against Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, accusing his administration of failing to secure Tamil Nadu’s rightful water share from Karnataka.

During his speech, someone in the audience shouted, "Trisha, Trisha". Pausing briefly, Udhayanidhi responded with a double entendre, drawing widespread criticism from political opponents, who termed the remarks vulgar and derogatory towards women.

Opposition parties universally flagged the comment as an explicit sexual innuendo alluding to long-standing rumours regarding the Chief Minister’s personal friendship with the actor. The ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) launched a scathing assault on the DMK leader following the incident. 

TVK leader Aadhav Arjuna publicly labelled Udhayanidhi as "Obscene Nidhi," accusing him of crippling the ideological foundation built by party icon C. N. Annadurai.

"'Obscene' Nidhi is destroying the movement that great scholar Anna built with his Tamil erudition, today with his obscene language and double-meaning speeches," Arjuna said in a post on Instagram.

He added that the remarks revealed a “perverted thinking about women” that no mother, sister, or parent in Tamil Nadu would accept, predicting women voters would completely wipe out Udhayanidhi’s political future.

Adding to the condemnation, TVK spokesperson Felix Gerald questioned on social media: “Would the Leader of the Opposition play this part of his speech to his own daughter and son? Such disgusting taste.”

Tamil Nadu BJP chief spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy termed the remarks "disgusting, obscene, vulgar and shameful," demanding immediate custodial arrest.

Former state BJP chief K. Annamalai mocked the speech, while senior leader Khushbu Sundar insisted that Udhayanidhi owes actor Trisha an unconditional public apology.

The DMK strongly rejected the allegations. Former minister T. Mano Thangaraj dismissed the controversy as "manufactured hatred" orchestrated by the ruling dispensation to divert public attention from delta farmers and the critical Cauvery water crisis.

Thangaraj urged political rivals to debate actual governance and policies rather than amplifying "selective fake news," maintaining that the smear campaign was designed solely to suppress uncomfortable questions in the Legislative Assembly.

With Udhayanidhi now in police custody and his anticipatory bail plea hanging in the balance at the High Court, political tensions across Tamil Nadu remain at an all-time high.