Tamil Nadu cabinet expansion: 23 ministers inducted; two from Congress take oath

The C Joseph Vijayled Tamil Nadu government on Thursday carried out its first major Cabinet expansion inducting 23 new ministers into the Council of Ministers in a significant political and administrative reshuffleThe expansion comes days after Vijay assumed office as Chief Minister following the Assembly elections where his party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam TVK emerged as the single largest party by winning 108 seats in the 234member AssemblyThe swearingin ceremony was held in Chennai where Governor R N Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly inducted ministersCongress returns to Tamil Nadu CabinetThe Cabinet expansion also marked the return of the Congress to the Tamil Nadu ministry after several decadesCongress MLAs S Rajesh Kumar and P Viswanathan were inducted into the ministry as part of the alliance arrangement supporting the Vijayled governmentLeaders from alliance parties including Thol Thirumavalavan attended the swearingin ceremony alongside senior TVK leaders and legislatorsThe inclusion of Congress ministers is being seen as an attempt to strengthen coalition coordination within the ruling allianceExpansion aimed at filling key portfolio gapsVijay had initially taken oath on May 10 along with nine ministers Portfolio allocation for the first phase of the Cabinet was completed on May 16However several major departments including Agriculture Forests Revenue Housing Cooperatives and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises MSME had not been assigned dedicated ministers leading to speculation about an imminent expansionOfficials said the enlarged ministry is expected to improve governance and ensure better distribution of responsibilities across departmentsThe move is also aimed at improving regional representation in the government by accommodating leaders from different districts across Tamil NaduSeveral firsttime legislators inductedAmong those inducted into the expanded ministry were Srinath from Thoothukudi Kamali S from Avinashi C Vijayalakshmi from Kumarapalayam RV Ranjithkumar from Kancheepuram Vinoth from Kumbakonam and Rajeev from ThiruvadanaiOther legislators sworn in included P Rajkumar V Gandhiraj P Mathan Raja K Jegadeshwari M Vijay Balaji T Logesh Tamilselvan A Vijay Tamilan Parthiban Ramesh R Kumar K Thennarasu and V Sampath KumarJ Mohammed Parvaz T Sarathkumar N Maria Wilson and K Vignesh were also among the new ministers inducted into the CabinetVijay government seeks stronger administrative footingThe Vijayled administration is expected to focus on governance reforms welfare measures and infrastructure projects in the coming months as it settles into officeThe Cabinet expansion is also likely to strengthen the governmentrsquos outreach across different regions and communities in the state while balancing alliance expectations within the ruling coalitionWith inputs from IANS