MK Stalin Takes Oath of Office as New Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

MK Stalin takes his oath as Tamil Nadu’s new CM…Get the details…

Friday, 7th May 2021

DMK chief, MK Stalin took oath on Friday as chief minister of Tamil Nadu in Chennai in a simple ceremony in view of the ongoing pandemic. Besides him, there were 33 other ministers also who took oath the same day.

The ceremony took place at Raj Bhavan where Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered him the oath of office and secrecy. While some party veterans like Duraimurugan have their positions intact as Stalin has decided to retain them, there are 15 others who have become ministers for the first time.

Also in attendance were the 69-year old CM’s wife Durga Stalin along with his son, Udhayanidhi, who emerged victorious from Chennai's Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni seat in his poll debut this year, and sister, Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi.

The occasion was also graced by the presence of poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who is the mastermind behind the DMK leader’s win.

As per a release shared by Raj Bhavan, Stalin will hold Home and other portfolios that include public, general administration, all India services, district revenue officers, special program implementation, and welfare of differently-abled persons.

This is Stalin’ s first term as Chief Minister of the state. He said he has renamed the names of some of the departments. For instance, the agriculture department shall now be called agriculture and farmers welfare.

Senior party members like general secretary Duraimurugan would be Minister for Water Resources and take charge of irrigation projects and others including mines and minerals. He is one among the 19 former Ministers who have been inducted into the Cabinet.

However, there are only two women who have been included in the Cabinet- P Geetha Jeevan, for social welfare and women empowerment and N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj designated Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare.

Among the 15 first-time ministers are former Chennai Mayor Ma Subramanian and the party's north Chennai strongman, PK Sekarbabu who have been allocated the departments of Health and Family Welfare and Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments respectively.

Finance has gone to former investment banker Palanivel Thiagarajan and School Education department to Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi. Both will be first-time ministers.

The electricity department and portfolios of prohibition and excise have been given to V Senthil Balaji, who joined the DMK in 2018.

Other portfolios such as Municipal Administration have been assigned to K N Nehru; Revenue to KKSSR Ramachandran; Minister for Cooperation to I Periyasamy; higher education to K Ponmudi.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

NDTV