MK Stalin, President of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has been sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, along with 34 members of his Cabinet, at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai on 7 May.
Due to the spike in coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu, Stalin had already said that the ceremony will be held in a simple manner and had appealed to the cadre to not violate COVID norms during celebrations.
MK Stalin, who would assume office as Chief Minister for the first time, shall hold Home and other portfolios, including public, general administration, all India services, district revenue officers, special programme implementation and welfare of differently abled persons, the release said.
A total of 133 MLAs, who contested on the DMK’s ‘Rising Sun’ symbol, were elected to the Legislative Assembly on 2 May.
Most of the elected representatives in Stalin’s Cabinet are first-time ministers.
Party veteran and General Secretary Duraimurugan, who had held portfolios like Public Works during the previous DMK regime (2006-2011), has been sworn in as Minister for Water Resources, in charge of irrigation projects and others, including mines and minerals.
Former Chennai Mayor Ma Subramanian has taken over as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare and PK Sekar Babu has been designated the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department.
Palanivel Thiagarajan has been allocated Finance and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi School Education department.
V Senthil Balaji, who joined the DMK in 2018, has been given the Electricity Department. He was a transport minister between 2011 and 2015 during the previous AIADMK regime led by J Jayalalithaa.
Tiruchirappalli-based party strongman and former Minister K N Nehru has been named Minister for Municipal Administration; while K Ponmudi has been heading the higher education department, EV Velu has been named Minister for Public Works.
Former Ministers Thangam Thennarasu has been appointed Minister of Industries; MRK Panneerselvam is now the Minister for Agriculture and Welfare of Farmers, KKSSR Ramachandran is the Revenue Minister, P Geetha Jeevan as the Minister for Social Welfare and Women Empowerment.
N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj, who defeated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu unit chief L Murugan in Dharapuram, has been given Adi Dravidar Welfare department.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (AIADMK’s) Edappadi Palaniswami tendered his resignation as the chief minister on Tuesday.
Newly elected DMK MLAs had unanimously elected Stalin as their Legislature Party Leader on Tuesday evening.
The meeting was held at the DMK headquarters – Anna Arivalayam – after his name was proposed by party General Secretary Duraimurugan and seconded by Principal Secretary KN Nehru.
“The DMK's work would make people who voted for the combine led by it happy and also shall make others who did not favour it to ponder as to why "we did not vote for the DMK and its allies," Stalin had said on Monday.
He vowed to take immediate efforts to implement his party's electoral promises and the DMK's 10-year vision document in a phased manner.
People have realised that the state has 'gone deep down' in the AIADMK regime and to correct it have voted for DMK and its allies, he said, adding his party would work to fulfil the people's aspirations on assumption of power.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)