CHENNAI, MAY 21 — Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar administered the oath of office to 23 new ministers at Lok Bhavan on Thursday, marking the first major expansion of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s cabinet since his administration assumed office two weeks ago.
The inclusion of the new members, which features 21 legislators from the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam and two from the Indian National Congress, officially transitions Tamil Nadu into a multi-party coalition government. The development signals a departure from decades of single-party governance dominated alternatingly by the DMK and the AIADMK, neither of which historically shared cabinet power with pre-election allies.
The swearing-in ceremony commenced at 10 a.m. at the gubernatorial residence, where frontline TVK legislators Srinath, S. Kamali, C. Vijayalakshmi, and R.V. Ranjithkumar were among the initial group to take their oaths.
“INC president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the induction of Rajesh Kumar and P. Viswanathan into the TN cabinet,” AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal stated ahead of the event. “This is a historic occasion as the Congress joins the state cabinet after a gap of 59 years.”
The entry of Congress legislators S. Rajesh Kumar and P. Viswanathan restores the national party to state cabinet power for the first time since 1967. That year, DMK founder C.N. Annadurai secured a landmark electoral victory that unseated the last standing Congress-exclusive state administration.
The newly expanded 33-member council follows the initial May 10 swearing-in of Chief Minister Vijay and his core nine-member team. The broader alliance structure also includes outside legislative backing from other regional blocs, solidifying the TVK’s position in the state assembly after it broke the long-standing duopoly of traditional Dravidian parties earlier this month.
