CM Vijay's cabinet inducts highest number of Dalit ministers in Tamil Nadu's history

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Thursday expanded his cabinet by inducting 23 ministers, including two from Congress, making it one of the most socially-diverse and young Council of Ministers with seven Dalits, the highest number in the state’s history, and two Brahmins.

This is also the first coalition dispensation in Tamil Nadu since 1952 when the Congress formed the government with support from alliance parties following the first general election in independent India.

With his Cabinet’s strength now at 33 – just two short of the maximum limits of 35 ministers – Vijay has literally shut the door on the splinter AIADMK group with 25 MLAs, who supported his government during the May 13 Trust Vote in the Assembly. The remaining two cabinet berths have been kept vacant for VCK and IUML, whose nominees will join very soon.

Of the 23 who were sworn in as ministers by Governor R V Arlekar at the Lok Bhavan here, 21 are from TVK with a majority of them having been associated with the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam, the fan clubs’ association, and two -- S Rajesh Kumar and P Viswanathan -- from the Congress. This is the first time that the Congress has found a place in Tamil Nadu cabinet after it was thrown out of power in 1967 by the then fledgling DMK.

Vijay has done a fine balancing act while forming the ministry by inducting seven Dalit ministers – the previous highest was four in the 2021-2026 DMK regime -- and two from the Brahmin community, a first in many decades.

Ramesh from Srirangam constituency is the first Brahmin after the state was renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1968 to head the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department that manages over 44,000 temples. Through this, Vijay is also aiming at weaning away a section of Brahmins, who have traditionally supported the AIADMK or BJP.

The number of Dalit ministers will go up to eight when VCK’s Vanni Arasu joins the ministry. This will also be the first time that the School Education and Higher Education departments will be helmed by Dalits – A Rajmohan and Congress’ P Viswanathan respectively. The cabinet is also one of the youngest with 11 ministers below the age of 40 and one with four women.

The 28-year-old S Kamali, a private school teacher who defeated Union Minister of State L Murugan from Avinashi, D Lokesh Tamilselvan, son of AIADMK veteran and former Tamil Nadu Speaker P Dhanabal, Gandhiraj, and Tennarasu are some of the high-profile inductees from the community.

“The CM has walked the talk about his secular social justice principles. We have given opportunities to every community, including Brahmins. The ministers were chosen after careful considerations. The portfolios allotted to Dalit ministers are also powerful ones,” a source told DH.

Vijay has also been careful in allotting portfolios to his new ministers. He shifted senior minister K A Sengottaiyan from Finance portfolio to Revenue and Disaster Management and allotted Finance to educationist Maria Wilson, whose family owns an array of educational institutions.

The Chief Minister also allotted the crucial Excise Department, which controls state-run liquor retailer TASMAC, to Vignesh, a youngster, and created an exclusive department for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and allotted it to Kumar from Velachery.

Seven of the total 33 ministers, including CM Vijay, are from Chennai, where the party won 14 of the 16 seats.

The decision not to entertain the splinter AIADMK group aligns with Vijay’s keenness to protect his anti-BJP image by maintaining a strict distance from parties that allied with the BJP in past elections. The splinter group's prospects were further damaged by a slew of corruption cases against former ministers like S P Velumani and C Vijayabaskar.