Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin took oath as Chief Minister of Tamilnadu today.
At a simple event in the Raj Bhavan in view of Covid-19, Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to Stalin and his Council of Ministers.
This comes a couple of days after a Raj Bhavan release said the Governor appointed him as the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu and invited him to form the Ministry.
Stalin, while accommodating senior leaders, who had served as former Ministers, had also included a few new faces in the Cabinet, like P K Sekar Babu, S M Nasar, former Chennai Mayor Ma Subramanian, former DMK Whip R Sakkarapani, P Moorthy, Ra Gandhi, S S Sivasankar, Palanivel Thiagarajan, Anbil Mahesh Moyyamozhi, Siva V Meyyanathan, C V Ganesan and T Mano Thangaraj.
The Cabinet has two women representatives –former Minister Geetha Jeevan and a new face N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj.
As Chief Minister, Stalin will have the portfolios of Public General Administration, IAS, IPS, Other All India Service, District Revenue Officers, Police, Home, Special Incentives, Special Programme Implementation and Welfare of Differently-abled persons.
Former Minister and DMK general secretary Duraimurugan will be the second in Command in the Cabinet and was alloted the Water Resources portfolio.
At a time when the State was facing a sharp increase in daily Covid case load tally, the key portfolio of Health was allotted to former Mayor Ma Subramanian, who was elected from Saidapet for a second term in the 6 April Assembly polls.
Another key portfolio of Finance was alloted to former Minister PTR Palanivel Rajan’s son Palanivel Thiagarajan, who was also given the charge of Human Resources Management.
Following is the list of Council of Ministers:
M K Stalin, Chief Minister.
Duraimurugan, Minister for Water Resources
K N Nehru, Minister for Municipal Administration
I Periyasamy, Minister for Co-operation
K Ponmudi, Minister for Higher Education
E V Velu, Minister for Public Works
MRK Panneerselvam, Minister for Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare
KKSSR Ramachandran, Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management
Thangam Thennarasu, Minister for Industries
S Reghupathy, Minister for ALaw
S Muthusamy, Minister for Housing and Urban Development
K R Periakaruppan, Minister for Rural Development
T M Anbarasan, Minister for Rural Industries
M P Saminathan, Minister for Information and Publicity
P Geetha Jeevan, Minister for Social Welfare and Women Empowerment
Anitha R Radhakrishnan, Minister for Fisheries-Fishermen Welfare and Animal Husbandry
S R Rajakannappan, Minister for Transport
K Ramachandran, Minister for Forests
R Sakkarapani, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies
V Senthilbalaji, Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise
R Gandhi, Minister for Handlooms
Ma Subramanain, Minister for Medical and Family Welfare
S S Sivasankar, Minister for Backward Classes Welfare
P K Sekarbabu, Minister for HR and CE
Palanivel Thagarajan, Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management
S M Nasar, Minister for Milk and Dairy Development
Gingee K S Masthan, Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non-Resident Tamils Welfare
Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Minister for School Education
Siva V Meyyanathan, Minister for Environment, Climate Change & Youth Welfare, Sports Development
C V Ganesan, Minister for Labour Welfare and Skill Development
T Mano Thangaraj, Minister for Information Technology
M Mathiventhan, Minister for Tourism
N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj, Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare