Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay expanded his Cabinet today with the induction of 23 MLAs in the Council of Ministers. 21 MLAs from Vijay's TVK party and 2 from the ally Congress took oath as ministers in the new government. 

Two of the important allies, the IUML and the VCK, are not part of the Cabinet expansion. Both the parties with two MLAs each are crucial to the numbers of the TVK government. Sources have told NDTV that both IUML and VCK have been allocated one Cabinet berth each, but they have not yet named their picks yet. Both the partners will be inducted into the government at a later stage, sources said.

The TVK leadership continued to invite VCK, CPI, CPM and IUML - which are presently extending outside support to the government, to formally join the coalition ministry. 

“Chief Minister has reiterated it. That is his wish and dream too. We expect good news. We'd want VCK chief Thol Thirumavalanan too to join the cabinet,” Tamil Nadu Public Works and Sports Minister Aadhav Arjuna had said on Tuesday.

Vijay took oath of office alongwith nine ministers on May 10. 

He can have 35 ministers in his Cabinet (15% of the Assembly strength). With 23 new ministers joining in today, it takes the number of ministers in the Vijay government to 32, which leaves him with 3 berths for allies like VCK and IUML. 

The two Congress MLAs to join the Vijay-led government are Rajesh Kumar and Thiru P. Vishwanathan. 

This is the first time in nearly six decades that the Congress is going to be part of the government in Tamil Nadu. 

The last time Congress ran a government was under M. Bhaktavatsalam who served as the last Congress Chief Minister, concluding his term in March 1967. 

In the historic 1967 assembly elections, the party was defeated by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by CN Annadurai. Since then, Congress has never been part of any government in the state till now when it joined the Vijay-led cabinet.

Source: NDTV

– Agencies