Thalapathy Vijay broke years old tradition, there was no caste-religion in the cabinet, only talent was given place.

Chennai: Chief Minister Joseph Vijay alias Thalapathy Vijay, who created history by forming the government for the first time in Tamil Nadu politics, has made a major expansion of his cabinet on Thursday. 23 new ministers have been included in the Tamil Nadu cabinet. In a special ceremony organized at Raj Bhavan, Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar administered the oath of office and secrecy to all these new ministers.

Let us tell you that in the recently concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, Thalapathy Vijay’s party ‘Tamil Nadu Victory Party’ (TVK) performed brilliantly and won 108 seats. Vijay has formed a strong coalition government in the state with the support of parties like Congress, Left, VKC and IUML. After this, on May 10, Vijay took oath as Chief Minister in a grand ceremony held at Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.

Earlier on May 10 itself, 9 prominent leaders including N Anand, Sengottaiyan, Adhav Arjun, Nirmal Kumar, Venkataramanan and Arunraj had taken oath as ministers and were also handed over their portfolios.

Major share for SC and minority community in Thalapathy’s cabinet

On May 10, ministers could not be sworn in for many important departments of the cabinet. To fulfill this deficiency, Chief Minister Vijay expanded his cabinet on Thursday. Governor Arlekar inducted new faces into the cabinet in a dignified ceremony organized at the Governor’s Office. The most noteworthy thing in this entire expansion was that Thalapathy Vijay completely ignored traditional caste equations or political calculations while allocating portfolios to the ministers. Instead, he made qualification the criterion and assigned the same responsibility to the MLA who is knowledgeable about the subject.

The first name among the ministers to take oath on Thursday was that of CM Vijay’s close friend and MLA from Thoothukudi seat, Srinath. Apart from this, two MLAs from the coalition partner Congress Party have also got a place in the cabinet. This is the first time in the political history of Tamil Nadu since 1967 that Congress has got the opportunity to join the state government cabinet. From the Congress side, Kiliyur MLA Rajesh Kumar and Melur MLA Vishwanathan took oath as ministers.

Keeping social justice in mind, 6 faces from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community and 3 from the minority community have been given the responsibility of ministerial posts in Thalapathy Vijay’s cabinet. Along with these, MLA from RK Nagar seat of Chennai, Maria Wilson and MLA from Velachery, Kumar also took oath as ministers.

Thalapathy saw only merit in allotting portfolios to ministers.

In the distribution of ministries, Thalapathy Vijay has moved away from traditional politics and worked in a corporate style. He has given importance only to ability rather than political influence. The important finance and planning department has been handed over to Maria Wilson, who has taken charge from today itself. On the other hand, the responsibility of big departments like Revenue and Disaster Management has been given to Sengottaiyan.

CM Vijay’s friend and Thoothukudi MLA Srinath has been made Fisheries Minister. Congress MLA Rajesh Kumar has got the responsibility of Tourism and Vishwanathan has got the responsibility of Higher Education Ministry. Salem Tamil Parthiban has been given the responsibility of Transport Department and Srirangam MLA Ramesh has been given the responsibility of Hindu Religious Endowments Department. Apart from this, Sampath Kumar has been made the Minister for Backward Class Welfare and Coimbatore Kinathukadavu MLA Vignesh has been made the Minister for Prohibition and Excise.

In this series, Kanchipuram MLA Ranjit Kumar has been appointed Forest Minister, Kumarapalayam MLA Vijayalakshmi has been appointed Dairy Development Minister and Avinashi MLA Kamali has been appointed Livestock Minister. Kumbakonam MLA Vinoth has been given the charge of Agriculture Ministry, Thiruvadanai MLA Rajeev has been given the charge of Environment and Cuddalore MLA Rajkumar has been given the charge of Housing Ministry.

Talking about other ministers, Arakkonam MLA Gandhiraj has been given the Cooperatives Minister, Ottapitram MLA Madanarajah has been given the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Minister, Rajapalayam MLA Jagatheeswari has been given the Social Welfare and Women Welfare Minister, and Erode East MLA Vijay Balaji has been given the Handloom and Textiles Ministry.

Rasipuram MLA Lokesh Tamilselvan has been given Commercial Tax and Registration, Velachery MLA Kumar has been given Information Technology (IT), Sriperumbudur MLA Thennarasu has been given Overseas Tamil Welfare and Aranthangi MLA Mohammed Parvez has been given Labor Welfare. Whereas Tambaram MLA Sarathkumar has got the responsibility of Human Resources (HR) Ministry.

Vijay broke years old tradition in the formation of cabinet

Before the entry of Thalapathy Vijay in the political history of Tamil Nadu, only DMK and AIADMK had ruled, whose governments were generally dominated by OBC leaders. Leaders of Scheduled Castes and Tribes were given one or two small posts only symbolically. But CM Vijay has changed this pattern and given a real and strong stake in the cabinet to the Dalits and minority classes.

Through its cabinet, TVK has put into practice its official ideology—secularism, social justice and egalitarianism. This thinking of the party was expressed by Periyar, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and K. Inspired by the principles of Kamaraj. It has been an old tradition of Dravidian politics that parties never make public the caste-wise data of their ministers, but this step of Vijay has given a big message without saying.

Practical coordination was also seen in the work of ministries

CM Vijay has made Sports Development a completely separate and independent ministry. In old governments, the sports department was always attached to some big ministry like an additional wing. By giving it an independent identity, Vijay has made it clear that his aim is to make Tamil Nadu number one in sports infrastructure. He has given Athav Arjun the dual responsibility of Public Works Department (PWD) as well as Sports Development Ministry. Athav Arjun has been working on infrastructure and urban development for a long time.

Linking PWD with the Sports Ministry is a very strategic and practical decision, because the construction of new stadiums and sports complexes is directly linked to the construction department. This will speed up the work.

The most sensitive Finance Ministry of the state is headed by A. Given to Sengottaiyan. Vijay has shown his maturity by handing over complex matters like budget, taxes, government policies and salaries of employees to experienced hands.

In this cabinet expansion, the most discussion is about the Industry Ministry, which is headed by S. Kirtana has been assigned. This is the first time in the history of Tamil Nadu that a woman has got such a big industrial portfolio. Keerthana’s understanding of the corporate sector and global investment is excellent. Vijay believes that the Industry Ministry should be headed by a person who can understand the language of investors and their needs.

Apart from this, considering the importance of health sector, K.G. Arun Raj has been made Health Minister. His administrative experience will be used to strengthen the medical infrastructure in the changed circumstances after Covid. Department of Energy and Law CTR. Nirmal Kumar has been given the title because technical matters like power crisis and solar projects require deep understanding.

Handling the sensitive issue of education and Tamil language, Rajmohan has been entrusted with the Department of School Education, Information and Publicity and Tamil Development. Rajmohan has been working on Tamil culture and education reforms for a long time. At the same time, to meet the needs of a large rural population of the state, the Ministry of Rural Development is headed by N. Has been handed over to Anand. This new and bold experiment of Thalapathy Vijay in running the government and dividing the ministries is being highly praised in the political circles.