Chennai: The 34-member AIADMK ministry to be sworn in on Monday with J Jayalalithaa as its Chief Minister will be the largest Cabinet in the history of Tamil Nadu since independence.
The AIADMK supremo has surprised all, including her party functionaries by introducing 24 new faces while leaving out some of the old warhorses like D Jayakumar, Pollachi V Jayaraman and B Valarmathi.
As per the Constitution (91st Amendment) Act 2003, the number of Ministers should not exceed 15 per cent of the total strength of the State Assembly (234). As per this rule, the Chief Minister can appoint 35 ministers, but Jayalalithaa chose to appoint 34.
The DMK, which won in 96 seats in 2006, had 30 ministers in the Cabinet. Now, the AIADMK has won in 146 seats and there will be 34 ministers.
Including Jayalalithaa, there are only three women ministers in the 34-member council. The other two are: S Gokula Indira (Commercial Taxes and Registration) and Selvi Ramajayam (Social Welfare).
Giving opportunity to the youngsters and new faces seems to be the keyword behind the appointment of the ministers.
Besides the Chief Minister's portfolio, Jayalalithaa will also look after Police, Home, Prevention of Corruption, Public, IAS, IPS, IFS, General Administration and District Revenue Officers.
Former PWD Minister O Panneerselvam becomes the Finance Minister and K A Sengottaiyan gets Agriculture. R Viswanathan gets Electricity, while Industries portfolio goes to C Shanmugavelu. M C Sampath will be Minister for Rural Industries and former Education Minister C Ve Shanmugam will be School Education Minister. S P Shanmuganathan becomes HR and CE Minister. C Karuppasamy is given Animal Husbandry, while R Vaithilingam will become Housing Minister.
The other 22 new faces and their portfolios are: K P Munusamy (Municipal Administration and Rural Development), Agri S S Krishnamurthy (Food), P Palaniappan (Higher Education), Sellur K Raju (Cooperation), K T Pachamal (Forests), Edappadi K Palanisamy (Highways and Minor Ports), K V Ramalingam (Public Works), S P Velumani (Special Programme Implementation), T K M Chinnayya (Backward Classes), P Thangamani (Revenue), G Senthamizhan (Information), B V Ramanaa (Handlooms and Technology), R B Udhayakumar (Information Technology) N Subramanian (Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare), V Senthil Balaji (Transport), N Mariyam Pichai (Environment), K A Jayapal (Fisheries), E Subaya (Law), Budhichandiran (Tourism), V S Vijay (Health), S T Chellapandian (Labour) and N R Sivapathi (Sports and Youth Welfare).
This is the first time that Tamil Nadu has a minister for special programmes implementation, which indicates Jayalalithaa's resolve to keep a watch on the roll out of welfare schemes.
