Stalin's 34-member cabinet get Governor's approval

Stalin's list of his 34-member cabinet, including both senior leaders and over a dozen first-time ministers, together with their portfolios, has been approved by Governor Banwarilal Purohit, a Raj Bhavan release said.

While Stalin himself would hold the Home, Public, General Administration, All India Services, District Revenue Officers, Special Programme Implementation and Welfare of Differently abled Person portfolios, party veteran and general secretary, Duraimurugan would be Minister for Water Resources.

First time ministers in the cabinet include former Chennai Mayor Ma Subramanian, assigned the department of health and family welfare, and the party's north Chennai strongman PK Sekarbabu, assigned Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments.

The Finance department has been assigned to Palanivel Thiagarajan, a former investment banker, while the School Education department has been allocated to Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi. V Senthil Balaji, who joined the DMK in 2018 from the AIADMK, has been given the Electricity Department.

While KN Nehru has been named Minister for Municipal Administration, I Periyasamy has been designated Minister for Cooperation, and K Ponmudi has got back the higher education department he previously held in the 2006-11 tenure.

While Tiruvannmalai's party heavyweight EV Velu has been named Minister for Minister for Public Works, MRK Panneerselvam would now be Minister for Agriculture and Welfare of Farmers, KKSSR Ramachandran would be the Revenue Minister, Thangam Thennarasu Minister for Industries and S Reghupathy Minister for law.

K R Periakaruppan, T M Anbarasan, M P Saminathan, all former Ministers, have also been named ministers and allotted the departments of Rural Development, Rural Industries and Information and Publicity. Meanwhile, P Geetha Jeevan has been named the Minister for social welfare and women empowerment.

Others include S Muthusamy (Housing), Anita R Radhakrishnan (Fisheries), SR Rajakannappan (Transport), K Ramachandran (Forests), CV Ganesan (Labour Welfare), T Mano Thangaraj (Information Technology), M Mathiventhan (Tourism) and N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj (Adi Dravidar Welfare), R Sakkarapani (Food), R Gandhi (Handlooms and Textiles), P Moorthy (Comercial Taxes), S S Sivasankar (Backward Classes Welfare), Siva V Meyyanathan (Environment), Gingee K S Masthan (Minorities Welfare) and S M Nasar (Dairy).