Seven MLAs from Chennai find place in Tamil Nadu cabinet: highest in recent years

With seven of the 33 Ministers sworn into the new Cabinet on Thursday winning from Chennai constituencies, the State capital has secured one of its strongest representations in the Tamil Nadu Council of Ministers in recent years.

This includes Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) head C. Joseph Vijay, the MLA from Perambur who holds the Municipal Administration, Urban and Water Supply portfolio in addition to other key sectors. Since many in the top leadership of the TVK decided to contest from Chennai, and leaders became ministers, the city’s contribution to the current cabinet is among the highest ever.

TVK general secretary and T. Nagar MLA N. Anand is the Minister for Rural Development and Water Resources. TVK general secretary (election campaign management) and Villivakkam MLA Aadhav Arjuna is the Minister for Public Works and Sports Development. Similarly, Egmore (SC) MLA Rajmohan is the Minister for School Education, Tamil Development, Information and Publicity, and Mylapore MLA P. Venkataramanan is the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies.

Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar MLA N. Marie Wilson holds the Finance, Planning, and Development portfolios while Velachery legislator R. Kumar has been assigned the portfolio of Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology and Digital Services.

Past years

The current allocation marks a significant increase in representation for Chennai compared to the previous administrations.

In the 2021 DMK Cabinet headed by former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who represented Kolathur, only three MLAs from the city were present, including P.K. Sekarbabu (Harbour) and Ma. Subramanian (Saidapet). Later, Udhayanidhi Stalin was sworn in as the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development in December 2022.

Before that, the 2016 AIADMK Cabinet featured just two Ministers from Chennai, including former CM J. Jayalalithaa (Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar) and D. Jayakumar (Royapuram). Similarly, the 2011 AIADMK government included only two city representatives, G. Senthamizhan (Saidapet) and Gokula Indira (Anna Nagar).