Vijay’s cabinet includes one woman minister; who are the nine MLAs sworn in with the TVK chief?

Heralding a new era in Tamil Nadu politics, actor-politician C. Joseph Vijay took oath as the chief minister on Sunday at a grand ceremony held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Governor Rajendra Arlekar administered the oath of office to Vijay and nine other MLAs from Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) at the event, which was attended by Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The new Cabinet includes one woman minister, S. Keerthana.

The other leaders sworn in as ministers alongside Vijay were N. Anand, Aadhav Arjuna, K. A. Sengottaiyan, K. G. Arunraaj, P. Venkataramanan, C. T. R. Nirmal Kumar, A. Rajmohan, and K. T. Prabhu.

“C. Joseph Vijay, Chief Minister-designate, has recommended a list of nine persons to be appointed as ministers on May 9. The Governor has approved the recommendation regarding the appointment of the ministers,” a release from the Lok Bhavan said earlier.

Vijay is expected to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly through a vote of confidence on or before May 13.

The uncertainty over government formation ended on Saturday evening after four MLAs from Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) extended unconditional support to TVK. 

The Congress, which has five MLAs, along with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), with two MLAs each, had already declared support for Vijay.