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Stalin cabinet to be a mix of veterans, young leaders
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Thursday accepted DMK’s list of 34 ministers who will take oath with chief minister elect M K Stalin on Friday
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Thursday accepted DMK’s list of 34 ministers who will take oath with chief minister elect M K Stalin on Friday.
At a party meeting, it was decided that Stalin, who will be sworn in as chief minister at 9am on Friday, will hold the portfolio of the home department, welfare of differently-abled persons among other portfolios.
The cabinet is a mix of Stalin’s close aides, veterans and young leaders.
Perhaps the most important portfolio amid the pandemic is the health ministry which has been handed over to former Chennai mayor M Subramanian. He is one of Stalin’s closest aides having been together from their youth wing days. Subramanian, who was mayor from 2006-2011 is elected an MLA from Chennai’s Saidapet constituency where he defeated former AIADMK’s Chennai mayor Saidai Duraisamy. Subramanian is also a marathon runner and an accessible leader.
Another crucial portfolio during the pandemic will be handled by Palanivel Thiagarajan who will be finance and human resource minister. Thiagarajan, an MBA graduate from MIT Sloan and a former investment banker with stints in Lehman Brothers, Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore and US, returned to India. He is currently the DMK’s IT-wing head and was re-elected as MLA from Madurai Central constituency.
The old guard such as party organising secretary Duraimurugan, K N Nehru, E V Velu and K Ponmudi have been made ministers for water resources, municipal administration, public works and higher education respectively. Former AIADMK transport minister V Senthil Balaji who sided with TTV Dhinakaran and was among the 18 rebel MLAs who were disqualified and joined the DMK in 2018, will be the new electricity, prohibition and excise minister.
P K Sekar Babu who works immensely in Stalin’s constituency of Kolathur will be minister for Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments. Stalin’s son Udhaynidhi who is elected as an MLA in his electoral debut didn’t make it to the list but his close aide and Thiruverumbur MLA from Trichy, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi has been handed the responsibility as school education minister. Only two women have been given ministerial posts- Geetha Jeevan gets social welfare portfolio and Kayalvizhi Selvaraj who defeated the state BJP chief L Murugan will be minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare.
Political observers say the new cabinet is a gamble. “It’s a blend of old guards and green horns. Durai Murugan is gracefully sidelined with a portfolio which ‘will coordinate with all departments’’ says political commentator Maalan Narayanan. “Subramanian and Anbil Mahesh are given crucial portfolios in which they don’t have experience or expertise. It is a gamble. Thiagarajan is a good choice as FM. Delta region is not represented while Kongu is given heavy representation-- may be to win them back.” Kongu or western region is the AIADMK’s bastion-- the only region where DMK couldn’t make inroads even in this election.
Stalin has asked his cadre to watch the swearing in ceremony from home to prevent the spread of Covid-19. It would be low-key event at the Raj Bhavan.
