C. Vijayabaskar

C. Vijayabaskar was born on 8th April 1974 in Iluppur, located in the Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu. He is a professionally trained doctor with an MBBS degree. He started his political journey with AIADMK and made Pudukottai his stronghold by working on community outreach and health projects.

The first time he got elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly was in 2001, when he represented the Pudukottai constituency. In 2011 and 2016, he was elected from Viralimalai. His continuous victory in elections proved him to be a prominent party leader in the southern part of Tamil Nadu.

In October 2013, Vijayabaskar took his oath as a minister in the Tamil Nadu cabinet under the Health and Family Welfare portfolio. He was in charge of the healthcare of the state and retained this cabinet position until May 2021 through the successive governments. In this period, he was responsible for the health policy, medical education, and welfare of the public; and this was the time when the public health sector in the state was going through a significant change.

But later on, he was entangled in legal troubles that resulted in the tarnishing of his reputation — he was charged in cases related to disproportionate assets, and these cases are based on the presumptive enrichment over one's known sources. The searches by agencies like the ED are ongoing as part of the investigations. His group insists that these are politically motivated, and he is carrying out his fights in the court.

Vijayabaskar is at present a senior leader of the AIADMK and former health minister, and thus has been alongside party politics in Tamil Nadu and is still undergoing legal processes.