CHENNAI: Moving quickly through the formalities within two days of winning the historic Assembly election, AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa announced her 29-member cabinet and allocated portfolios on Saturday. The team that is to lead the State in the coming days has a mixture of youngsters and veterans, experienced hands and debutants. On Monday noon, Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah will administer Oath of Office to Jaya and her cabinet at a grand ceremony to be held at Madras University Auditorium, preparations for which are on.
At around 4 pm on Saturday, Jaya called on Rosaiah and staked claim for forming the next government. She handed over letter from 133 MLAs electing her as the leader of the legislature party of the AIADMK.
The new cabinet has a mixture of old and new faces, with 13 new faces and 12 ministers from the last government. Few senior members including former Speaker D Jayakumar and C Ve Shanmugham have returned to the cabinet, while others including Dindigul C Srinivasan, OS Manian and Dr V Saroja, both former MPs but first time members of the State Assembly, are also part of it. Jaya has retained Police, Home, Public, IAS, IPS, IFS Services and General Administration, while the portfolios of some of the ministers from the last regime have been reshuffled. Senior member, S Semmalai has been chosen as the pro-tem Speaker of the newly-constituted Assembly.