Stalin to take oath as CM on Friday, 33 ministers from DMK also to be sworn in

CHENNAI: DMK leader MK Stalin will take oath on Friday as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu along with 33 ministers from his party.

The names include 19 former ministers and 15 new faces. It has two women. Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Thursday approved the recommendations made by Stalin regarding MLAs to be appointed ministers and their portfolios.

Stalin's son Udhayanidhi does not figure in the list of ministers. DMK had fought the elections with its allies and got absolute majority on its own. Stalin will hold several portfolios including Home, General Administration, Special Initiatives, Special Programme Implementation and Welfare of Differently-Abled Persons.

Medical and Family Welfare portfolio has been assigned to former Chennai Mayor Ma Subramanian and Water Resources has been given to DMK general secretary S Duraimurugan. Udhayanidhi's close aid Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi has been given charge of School Education department. S Raghupathy will handle the law department, R Sakkarapani will be minister for Food and Civil supplies, T Mano Thangaraj of Information Technology and Palanivel Thiagarajan of Finance and Human Resources.

The ministers include K N Nehru (Minister for Municipal Administration), I Periasamy (Minister for Cooperation), K Ponmudi (Minister for Higher Education), EV Velu (Minister for Public Works), MRK Panneerselvam(Minister for Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare), KKSSR Ramachandran (Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management), Thangam Thennarasu (Minister for Industries), S Muthusamy (Minister for Housing and Urban Development), and K R Periakaruppan (Minister for Rural Development) and T M Anbarasan (Minister for Rural Industries). The list also includes MP Saminathan (Minister for Information and Publicity), P Geetha Jeevan (Minister for Social Welfare and Women Empowerment), Anitha S Radhakrishnan (Minister for Fisheries, Fishermen Welfare and Animal Husbandry), SR Rajakannappan (Minister for Transport), K Ramchandran (Minister for Forests), V Senthilbalaji (Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise), R Gandhi (Minister for Handlooms and Textiles), P Moorthy (Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration), and SS Sivasankar (Minister for Backward Classes Welfare).

It has PK Sekarbabu (Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments), SM Nasar (Minister for Milk and Dairy Development), Ginjee KS Masthan ( Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non-Resident Tamils welfare), Siva V Meyyanathan (Minister for Environment-Climate Change and Youth Welfare and Sports Development), C V Ganesan (Minister for Labour Welfare and Skill Development), M Mathiventhan (Minister for Tourism), and N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj (Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare). The list has three MLAs from Chennai including Stalin, Ma Subramanian and Sekar Babu. However, no minister has been appointed from the Delta region of the state.

Stalin met the Governor on Wednesday and submitted a letter intimating of his election as the leader of the DMK legislature party. The swearing-in ceremony will be held on May 7 at 9 am at Raj Bhavan in Chennai.

DMK won 133 seats on its own in the 234-member assembly.