Vijay expands cabinet with 23 ministers, Congress gets a Tamil Nadu berth after six decades

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Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay expanded his cabinet Thursday, inducting 23 new ministers to consolidate his coalition government–the first to be formed without a Dravidian party in the southern state in decades.

Governor Rajendra Arlekar administered the oaths of office in Chennai, bringing the total council of ministers to 33.

Twenty-one of the new inductees belong to the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and two — S. Rajesh Kumar from Killiyoor and P. Viswanathan from Melur—are from the Congress. The two berths also mark Congress’s return to ministerial office in Tamil Nadu after nearly six decades.

The last time Congress was in power in Tamil Nadu was in 1967.

Led by actor-turned politician Vijay, the TVK was elected Tamil Nadu’s single largest party – with 108 MLAs–in assembly elections held in April. The Congress and Left parties, which were in pre-poll alliance with the DMK, backed TVK to form a government after poll results were declared this month.

The expanded cabinet has seven Dalit ministers, six from TVK—Rajmohan (Egmore), Logesh (Rasipuram), Mathan Kumar (Ottapidaram), Kamali (Avinashi), Gandhiraj (Arakkonam), and Thennarasu (Sriperumbudur)—and one from Congress.

The new cabinet also inducted a second minister from the Brahmin community: S. Ramesh from Srirangam joins the already-serving Food Minister P. Venkatramanan.

The government, TVK sources told ThePrint, has reserved one berth each for Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), both expected to join in the next phase of expansion. VCK has already conveyed its willingness through a letter of interest; IUML was expected to announce its decision Thursday afternoon.

The state government has effectively foreclosed any prospect of accommodating a splinter group from the AIADMK, after 25 of its MLAs backed Vijay during the floor test.

Sources said there was firm resistance from coalition partners, including VCK and the Left parties, over accommodating AIADMK, which is otherwise aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Communist Party of India (CPI) State Secretary P. Shanmugam made the party’s position unambiguous, warning that if AIADMK legislators were given cabinet berths, the CPI would consider withdrawing its support. He argued that the Left parties had extended outside support solely to back TVK as the single largest party and to block what he called a “backdoor entry” to the BJP.

AIADMK rebel faction leader C.V. Shanmugam, speaking to ThePrint, distanced himself from any suggestion of ministerial ambition. “I never said we wanted power or had any expectations of holding power in the cabinet. Our only grievance is our party’s own leadership and we did not support TVK out of any aspirations,” he said.

A TVK functionary framed the exclusion in equally direct terms. “Especially when their internal rift has not reached a decision and the party continues in alliance with BJP, the party did not consider their inclusion,” the functionary said.

Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay recommended a revised allocation of portfolios to the Governor. The changes took immediate effect to streamline governance in the TVK-led coalition government. Key shifts include assigning the Finance portfolio to N. Marie Wilson, moving senior Minister KA Sengottaiyan to Revenue and Disaster Management, and allocating Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare to Srinath, with Kamali taking charge of Animal Husbandry.

Portfolios revised

In the revised list of portfolios released Thursday, CM Vijay retained several critical departments, including Municipal Administration and Water Supply. He added Special Initiatives, Poverty Alleviation and Rural Indebtedness under his name.

Women Welfare was reassigned to Minister K. Jegadeshwari. Congress MLA Rajesh Kumar was inducted as Minister for Tourism, and his party college P. Viswanathan was handed Higher Education. The reshuffle was seen as a balancing act to accommodate regional and alliance interests in the new government.

The Vijay government also created a dedicated Artificial Intelligence department, given to TVK’s R. Kumar, who also has Information Technology and Digital Services.

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