Madras State

Madras State was a state in the Republic of India. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu, Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North Kerala, and Bellary, South Canara and Udupi districts of Karnataka. Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema were separated to form Andhra State in 1953 , while South Canara and Bellary districts were merged with Mysore State, and Malabar District with the State of Travancore-Cochin to form Kerala in 1956. In 1969, Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning "Tamil country".

History

After Indian Independence, the Madras Presidency became the Madras Province on 15 August 1947. On 26 Jan 1950 it was formed as Madras State by the Government of India. As a result of the 1956 States Reorganisation Act, the state's boundaries were re-organised following linguistic lines. The state was finally renamed Tamil Nadu on 14 January 1969.

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari

In the 1952 elections, the first as a part of independent India, the Indian National Congress was the single largest party in the Assembly. However, the Congress could not form the government as it did not have a clean majority, and the Communist Party of India–led coalition appeared to be in a better position to form the government. Nevertheless, a Congress government was formed in the state, and Chakravarti Rajagopalachari was selected by the cadres of the Congress party to rule the state. However, he was not an elected member of the Madras Legislative Assembly. Hence, he was nominated by the governor to the Legislative Council and took office as the chief minister of Madras state.