- Chief Minister Joseph Vijay expanded his Cabinet with 23 new ministers, including two Congress members
- Vijay retained Home, General Administration, Water Supply, and Youth Welfare portfolios for himself
- Marie Wilson replaced KA Sengottaiyan as Finance Minister; Sengottaiyan now Revenue Minister
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay on Thursday expanded his Cabinet with the induction of 23 new ministers, including two from the Congress. Earlier Vijay took oath as chief minister along with 9 ministers from his party, the TVK.
After the expansion, the chief minister allocated the portfolios to his new ministers and also tweaked some given earlier.
The superstar-turned-chief minister has kept the important Home portfolio to himself along with General Administration and water supply. The choice of Home portfolios highlights Vijay's priorities as law and order and women safety were his top promises during the campaign. He has also kept the Youth Welfare portfolio to himself in a message to the young voters who were instrumental in TVK's stellar show in elections.
Chief minister also changed the Finance portfolio previously allocated to senior leader KA Sengottaiyan, who will now be Revenue Minister. Marie Wilson will now be the state Finance Minister.
Two Congress MLAs - Rajesh Kumar and P Vishwanathan - also took oath as ministers on Thursday. Rajesh Kumar has been allocated Tourism Ministry and Vishawanathan has been given charge of Higher Education.
Read | 5 Seats, 2 Ministers: Congress' Canny Tamil Nadu Play Snaps 59-Year Drought
Vijay's Cabinet now has 32 ministers. He can have up to 35 ministers, which is 15 percent of the Assembly strength of 234. Space has been kept for two more allies, the VCK and the IUML, who have till now not confirmed their participation in the government.
Here is the complete list of ministers in the Vijay Cabinet:
C Joseph Vijay, Chief Minister
General Administration
Police & Home
Special Programme Implementation
Poverty Alleviation & Rural Indebtedness
Youth Welfare
Urban & Water Supply
N Marie Wilson
Finance, Planning and Development
Read | Inside Track: Why Key Allies VCK, IUML Missed Vijay's Cabinet Expansion
N Anand
Rural Development
Panchayats & Panchayat Union
Irrigation
R Nirmalkumar
Energy Resources and Law
KA Sengottaiyan
Revenue and Disaster Management
Srinath
Fisheries
Kamali S
Animal Husbandry
C Vijayalakshmi
Milk and Dairy Development
RV Ranjithkumar
Forests
Vinoth
Agriculture
Rajeev
Environment & Climate Change
B Rajkumar
Housing and Urban Development
V Gandhiraj
Co-operation
Mathan Raja P
MSMEs, Rural, Cottage & Small Industries
Jegadeshwari K
Social Welfare & Women Empowerment
Rajesh Kumar S
Tourism
M Vijay Balaji
Handlooms, Textiles and Khadi
Logesh Tamilselvan D
Commercial Taxes and Registration
Vijay Tamilan Parthiban A
Transport
Ramesh
Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments
P Viswanathan
Higher Education
Kumar R
Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology & Digital Services
Thennarasu K
Non-Resident Tamils Welfare
V Sampath Kumar
Backward Classes Welfare
Mohamed Farvas J
Labour Welfare and Skill Development
D Sarathkumar
Human Resources Management
Vignesh K
Prohibition and Excise
