Two Congress legislators were among the 23 ministers appointed to the Cabinet led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Thursday, making the party part of the southern state’s government for the first time in 59 years. The Congress Party lost power in Tamil Nadu in 1967.
Four new ministries were also announced – one for Artificial Intelligence, IT and Digital Services, the second for Human Resource Management, the third for Prohibition and Excise, and the fourth for the Welfare of Non-Resident Tamils.
Congress MLAs Rajesh Kumar and P Viswanathan were sworn in as ministers in the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK)-led government, a day after party chief Mallikarjun Kharge approved their inauguration.
The addition of S Kamali, K Jegadeshwari and C Vijayalakshmi on Thursday took the number of women ministers in the state to four.
Chief Minister Vijay retained the portfolios of Home Affairs, Police, Municipal and Urban Administration and Water Supply. In addition, the Departments of Special Initiatives, Poverty Alleviation and Rural Indebtedness will be under his supervision.
The Women’s Welfare portfolio, previously held by the Chief Minister, has been reassigned to K Jejadeshwari, who has been appointed as the Minister of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment.
Read also: Vijay’s problem? Tamil Nadu CM receives warning from CPI-M ally over AIADMK: ‘Will withdraw support…’
Eleven lawmakers appointed Thursday were under the age of 40. Six of them belong to the Scheduled Caste community.
The new appointments increased the number of ministers in Vijay’s cabinet to 33. This was the first expansion of Vijay’s cabinet since he was sworn in with nine others on 10 May. Most of the ministers in the government are first-time legislators, graduates and Vijay loyalists.
The Congress, which has five legislators in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, was among the first parties to support TVK (108 seats) when it failed to get a majority in the 234-member Assembly. It has withdrawn from the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance to support the TVK-led rally.
The leftist parties, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) Party, also supported TVK, with Vijay forming the first coalition government in what is now Tamil Nadu since 1952.
The party’s leader, Khader Mohieldin, said on Thursday that the Islamic Islamic Union had decided to join the government. “Among the legislators, we have decided to nominate Papanasam MLA, AM Shahjahan, to join the Cabinet,” he said. The IUML’s decision came after a formal invitation from TVK to join the Cabinet.
Senior IUML leaders called CM Vijay to discuss the move in a meeting.
TVK general secretary Aadhav Arjuna said on Wednesday that the party has invited the Congress, which won five seats, and the IUML and VCK, which won two seats each, to join the government.
The VCK is yet to clarify whether any of the two MLAs will be nominated to join the cabinet.
