Vijay expands TN cabinet with 7 Dalit mins; Congress back in govt after 59 years

CHENNAI: Congress made a comeback into govt successful Tamil Nadu ending its 59-year exile, with 2 of its legislators among 23 caller ministers sworn in, arsenic CM C Joseph Vijay Thursday expanded his furniture successful an workout that rewarded loyalists, accommodated allies and signalled effort astatine rewriting societal engineering successful authorities politics.

With 21 TVK ministers taking oath on with Congress’s P Viswanathan and S Rajesh Kumar, who were allocated higher acquisition and tourism, TN present has 33 ministers. With the remaining 2 slots kept for IUML and VCK, determination volition beryllium nary country for the antiEPS AIADMK faction. In a important governmental message, Vijay inducted 7 Dalit ministers, the highest practice for the assemblage successful TN’s history. The fig is expected to emergence to 8 erstwhile VCK joins the ministry.Vijay’s furniture with 2 Brahmins bucks state’s governmental trendThe enlargement besides marked different departure from the state’s governmental trend, with Vijay inducting 2 Brahmins into the cabinet. While Mylapore MLA P Venkataramanan was made a curate successful the archetypal batch that was sworn successful connected May 10, Srirangam legislator S Ramesh was made the HR&CE curate connected Thursday. There are 4 women ministers successful the cabinet. Though the authorities had a akin fig of women ministers successful the past, the TVK furniture volition person youngest women ministers — Kamali, 28 (animal husbandry), and Keerthana, 29 (industries).

This furniture is besides 1 of the youngest, with 9 ministers little than 40 years aged and 2 little than 30 years. Only 4 ministers are aged supra 60, with K A Sengottaiyan being the oldest astatine 78 years. First-time MLA representing R K Nagar, Marie Wilson, has been made concern minister, replacing Sengottaiyan who has present been fixed revenue. Vijay’s person Srinath has been allocated fisheries, portion semipermanent functionary of Vijay’s instrumentality association, Vinoth, has been made the agriculture minister.