Tamil Nadu cabinet gets bigger under Vijay; Congress returns after nearly six decades

IUML, VCK may join Vijay's cabinet in next few days What rebel AIADMK MLAs are a point of contention NEW DELHI: Two weeks after swearing in, Tamil Nadu chief minister Vijay on Thursday expanded his cabinet, inducting 23 MLAs into the council of ministers.Among those inducted are Salem South MLA Tamil Parthiban, Aranthangi MLA J Mohammed Farvas alias Parvez, Coimbatore North MLA V Sampath Kumar, Kancheepuram MLA R V Ranjith Kumar, Tambaram MLA D Sarath Kumar, Tirupur North MLA V Sathyabama and R K Nagar MLA Marie Wilson.With this, Congress also to the Tamil Nadu cabinet after nearly 60 years, as two Congress MLAs — Rajesh Kumar and P Vishwanathan — were approved by party president Mallikarjun Kharge.This comes after Congress contested the Tamil Nadu assembly elections in alliance with the DMK, which was voted out after a single term. Vijay's TVK, launched in February 2024, emerged as the single-largest party but fell short of a majority by 10 seats in the 234-member assembly.Subsequently, the actor-turned-politician sought Congress’ support, which he received on the condition that no “communal force” would be included in the alliance. Later, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Left parties also extended support to the TVK, helping it cross the majority mark.After TVK publicly invited VCK and IUML to join the Tamil Nadu cabinet, both are expected to join the council of ministers in the next few days.Reportedly, both are expected to get one seat each.Earlier, TOI reported that party president Thol Thirumavalavan may not be part of the cabinet, though TVK was keen on accommodating him. VCK deputy general secretary Vanni Arasu, who won from Tindivanam, is expected to be inducted instead.There is also speculation that Thirumavalavan may contest from Trichy East, which Vijay gave up. VCK sources said TVK was urging Thirumavalavan to contest the byelection, though he has been hesitant about joining the cabinet.IUML has called an emergency meeting of its state committee in Chennai on Thursday under the leadership of its president K M Kader Mohideen to take a decision.“IUML’s national party political affairs committee, which met in Kerala on Wednesday, decided to join Vijay’s cabinet and asked its Tamil Nadu unit to select the MLA to be inducted,” said a senior IUML leader.Tamil Nadu minister Aadhav Arjuna chose not to give a direct reply to a question on whether the rebel AIADMK MLAs would be given ministerial berths, stating that the rebel AIADMK MLAs supported TVK in the floor test to uphold the people’s mandate and not for postings.Thirumavalavan also said that TVK has informed them that the rebel AIADMK MLAs who backed the government during the trust vote will not be part of the ministry.“Information has been passed on to us from TVK that there is no chance for the breakaway AIADMK faction to be accommodated in the cabinet,” he said.CPM said it would reconsider its support to the Vijay-led government if it accommodated the rebel AIADMK faction in the cabinet. Addressing a press conference, CPM leader Shanmugam said the basis for extending support to TVK was to prevent the imposition of President’s Rule and stop the “backdoor entry of BJP rule”.Shanmugam said the arrangement was intended to ensure governance by a party elected by the people. However, he added that inducting AIADMK rebel members into the council of ministers would go against the mandate and the party’s stand on clean governance.“No party got a majority and TVK emerged as the single-largest party, and so only they had the scope to form the government. With the idea of facilitating governance by a party elected by the people, the Left parties and the VCK extended outside support to the TVK, enabling it to form the government,” he said.“I think the TVK will not go to that extent (of accommodating the AIADMK rebel group in the cabinet). In the event of the TVK taking such a stand, the CPI(M) will reconsider its support to the TVK,” he added.