Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has cleared the induction of party MLAs S Rajesh Kumar and P Vishwanathan into the C Joseph Vijay-led Tamil Nadu cabinet.
The two leaders will be sworn in as ministers on May 21, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said on Wednesday.
Venugopal, in a statement, said it will be a historic occasion for the party as the Congress joins the Tamil Nadu cabinet after a long gap of 59 years.
The party, which has five MLAs, had earlier walked out of the DMK-led alliance to extend support to the maiden TVK government.
Earlier, the TVK government extended an invitation to its allies, the Congress, VCK and IUML, to join the cabinet.
Tamil Nadu Minister for Public Works and Sports Development Adhav Arjuna said that the Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay wants the cabinet to function as "one family" with the parties such as Congress, VCK, CPI, CPI-M and IUML, which primarily helped to form the government.
"Both the CM and the TVK party share the same vision that the leaders and parties committed to functioning on the principles of social justice should join the Cabinet.
In particular, the Congress came forward and extended immense support to us, placing their trust in our leader".
Claiming that the chief minister has emphasised that Congress must join the Cabinet, Arjuna said: "At the same time, we will always respect the policy decision of the Left parties to extend support from outside".
(With inputs from PTI)
