Palaniswami new Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, 30 others inducted; here’s full list of ministers and their portfolios

Thiru E Palaniswami was also backed by 124 MLAs which further garnered the required strength within the party to form a new government

By: News Desk |
February 16, 2017 6:44 pm

The long tussle for power in the state has come to an end after the VK Sasikala faction defeated the O Pannerselvam camp and with that, E Palaniswami swore in as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on February 16. Along with Palaniswami, 30 other AIADMK leaders took oath as ministers in the state cabinet.

Palaniswami was initially appointed as the AIADMK general secretary by Sasikala when she was ordered by the Supreme Court to surrender after she was convicted in the disproportionate assets case. He was also backed by 124 MLAs which further garnered the required strength within the party to form a new government, thereby leading to O Pannerselvam’s exit from the race of the prime ruler of the state.

Earlier this day, Thiru E Palaniswami met Governor Vidyasagar Rao and handed over the list of 31 ministers who have now become the part of Tamil Nadu state cabinet holding various portfolios. In return, the honourable Governor approved the list and all the ministers including Palaniswami, who swore in later in the afternoon.

Here is the list and portfolio of the ministers included in the state cabinet:

Sl. no.	Minster’s Name	Minister’s Designation
1	K Palaniswami	Chief Minister
2	C Sreenivasan	Minister of Forests
3	KA Sengottaiyan	Minister for School Education & Sports and Youth Welfare
4	K Raju	Minister for Cooperation
5	P Thangamani	Ministry for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise
6	SP Velumani	Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development, Implementation of Special Programme
7	D Jayakumar	Minister for Fisheries
8	CV Shanmugam	Minister for Law, Courts and Prisons
9	KP Anbalagan	Minister for Higher Education
10	P Benjamin	Minister for Rural Industries
11	Dr Nilofer Kafeel	Minister for Labour
12	MR Vijayabaskar	Minister for Transport
13	M Manikandan	Minister for Information Technology
14	VM Rajalakshmi	Minister for Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare
15	G Baskaran	Minister for Khadi and Village Industries Board
16	S Ramachandran	Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments
17	S Valarmathi	Minister for Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare
18	P Balakrishna Reddy	Minister for Animal Husbandry
19	V Saroja	Minister for Social Welfare and Nutritious Noon Meal Programme
20	MC Sampath	Minister for Industries
21	KC Karuppanan	Minister for Environment
22	R Kamaraj	Minister for Food & Civil Supplies
23	OS Manjan	Minister for Handlooms and Textiles
24	K Radhakrishnan	Minister for Housing and Urban Development
25	Dr C Vijaya Baskar	Minister for Health and Family Welfare
26	R Doraikkantu	Minister for Agriculture
27	Kadambur Raju	Minister for Information and Publicity
28	RB Udhaykumar	Minister for Revenue
29	N Natarajan	Minister for Tourism
30	KC Veeramani	Minister for Commercial Taxes
31	KT Rajenthra Bhalaji	Minister for Milk and Dairy Development

Further, Palaniswami has been given a time of 15 days to prove majority. Following the development, AIADMK MLAs left Golden Bay resort in Kovathur for Raj Bhavan in Chennai to attend the oath taking ceremony. Hailing from state’s western Kongu belt, Palaniswami is considered a popular name in his gounder community.