- Congress to hold power in Tamil Nadu after 59 years as Vijay expands his cabinet
- Two Congress MLAs, Rajesh Kumar and P Vishwanathan, to join Vijay's cabinet
- Congress allied with DMK for years but was excluded from state government roles
The Congress will hold power in Tamil Nadu after 59 years as Chief Minister Vijay expands his cabinet tomorrow. The party, which got pushed to the political sidelines in the southern state after the rise of the Dravidian parties DMK and the AIADMK, has called it a "historic occasion".
Two Congress MLAs will take oath as ministers, senior party leader KC Venugopal said in a post on X. "Kharge has approved the induction of INC MLAs Adv. Rajesh Kumar and Thiru P. Vishwanathan into the Tamil Nadu cabinet... This is a historic occasion for us, as the Congress joins the Tamil Nadu cabinet after a long gap of 59 years!" his post read.
The Congress has been the ally of DMK for over a decade but was never allowed to be part of the government in the state, that was dominated by Dravidian politics.
Even in the run-up to the election, the party got snubbed by the DMK over its request for cabinet berths in case of a victory. Its request for 41 seats also got turned down, with the DMK sticking to its offer of 20-plus seats - a sharp contrast from the 70 offered by Vijay during back-channel talks.
After the state's historic mandate for the TVK, which fell just short of majority, the Congress -- which won five of the 27 seats it contested -- broke away from the DMK and formed a partnership with Vijay's party.
Earlier today, the ruling TVK had invited allies to become part of Vijay's cabinet.
"We invite VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan to be part of the Council of Ministers. This is the wish of the Chief Minister as well," senior TVK leader and state minister Aadhav Arjuna told reporters.
"Similarly, the IUML should also join the Council of Ministers. We have conveyed our invitation to IUML leaders," added Minister for Public Works and Sports Development.
"The Chief Minister has already urged the Congress, which extended support to the TVK government to be part of the Cabinet. We respect the stand of the Left parties - CPI and CPM - in extending outside support to the government," he said.
