R Mohan was sworn into the Jayalalithaa cabinet by Governor K Rosaiah in a ceremony at Raj Bhavan on Saturday morning. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was present at the function with her entire cabinet. Mohan has been named Minister for Rural Industries, and replaces C Ve Shamugam who had been removed from his positions both in cabinet and the party recently.
Mohan had served as Environment and Forests Minister during the previous Jayalalithaa regime and represents Sankarapuram constituency. He has also been serving as the Chief Whip of the party.
Meanwhile, AIADMK veteran P Dhanapal filed his nomination to the post of Assembly Speaker on Saturday, kickstarting the process that would pave the way for a Scheduled Caste member to hold the post after a gap of 50 years. Dhanapal, the MLA from Rasipuram (SC) Constituency, has till now served as Deputy Speaker in the Assembly. He was the automatic choice to replace D Jayakumar, who resigned recently. With the AIADMK enjoying brute majority, Dhanapal’s election to the Speaker’s chair is only a matter of formality.
Dhanapal was among handful of MLAs in the current Assembly who were voted on AIADMK tickets when the party first contested elections in 1977. He had earlier served as Minister for Food and Cooperation. The election will be held on October 10 to fill the vacancy before the Assembly’s diamond jubilee on October 29.