Predicted election win, Vijay appoints astrologer as officer on special duty 

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's astrologer Radhan Pandit has been appointed as the officer on special duty (OSD). He has been appointed as the OSD to the chief minister. An order has also been issued in this regard. It is not clear in the order what the job is or how much the salary is. The explanation is that all this will be clarified later. When Vijay went to meet the Governor for the formation of the cabinet, Radhan Pandit had also accompanied him. Apart from being Vijay's astrologer, he is also the spokesperson of TVK.

Radhan Pandit was noticed after predicting Vijay's political victory. On the day of counting, when TVK was leading with a strong performance, he had arrived at Vijay's residence in Neelankarai with a bouquet and a shawl. None of the leading agencies that conducted exit polls had predicted Vijay's victory. However, Radhan Pandit had predicted TVK’s win. His prediction was that Vijay had a very strong 'tsunami’ chart and that TVK would win 140 to 170 seats to form the government in Tamil Nadu. He had claimed that M K Stalin was going through a very difficult phase and that Udhayanidhi Stalin could only see limited rise in the political arena despite having favorable stars.

When the election results were announced, Radhan Pandit was almost right. There was only a slight change in the number of seats. It is said that the time of Vijay's oath-taking ceremony was also changed on his advice. Initially, it was proposed to be held on May 10 at 3.45 pm. Later, on the advice of Radhan Pandit, it was changed to 10 am. The time change was said to be an auspicious 'muhurtham'.

Radhan Pandit Vettrivel, alias Ricky Radhan Pandit, claims to be a celebrity astrologer. He also claims to be the best astrologer in India. Radhan Pandit has claimed in some interviews that he was close to Jayalalithaa and that her career took off after he advised her to add an extra ‘a’ to her name. He also claims that he is behind the name of Vijay's political party, TVK.

Meantime, Vijay is criticized for appointing him as a government servant. Three major appointments were made after Vijay took charge. He first appointed two IAS officers to help in the administration. Radhan Pandit was then appointed. The reason for the accusation was that an astrologer was appointed before making appointments to many important posts. Like Jayalalithaa, many chief ministers of Tamil Nadu had private astrologers. However, none of them appointed astrologers in government service.