Chennai, May 21 (IANS) The C. Joseph Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government will undergo its first Cabinet expansion on Thursday, with Congress likely to formally join the ministry in a move aimed at strengthening the ruling coalition and filling several key portfolios that have remained vacant since the government assumed office.

The swearing-in ceremony for the new ministers is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. at the Governor’s residence in Guindy, where Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar will administer the oath of office in the presence of Chief Minister Vijay and other senior leaders.

Sources indicated that two Congress legislators are likely to be inducted into the ministry.

The Cabinet expansion comes against the backdrop of political developments that unfolded after the Tamil Nadu Assembly election results were declared on May 4. The elections resulted in a fractured mandate, with no single party securing an outright majority in the 234-member Assembly.

Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) emerged as the single largest party but initially fell short of the numbers required to form a government.

The political situation changed after Congress, CPI, CPI(M), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which had earlier been part of the DMK-led alliance, extended support to the Vijay-led coalition, enabling it to cross the majority mark required to form the government.

Following the support, Vijay was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 10 along with nine ministers — N. Anand, Aadhav Arjuna, Dr Arun Raj, K.A. Sengottaiyan, P. Venkataramanan, R. Nirmalkumar, Rajmohan, Dr T.K. Prabhu and S. Keerthana.

The government’s numbers further strengthened during the Assembly trust vote when 25 of the 47 AIADMK legislators broke ranks and voted in favour of the government, pushing the ruling alliance’s effective strength to 144 members, significantly above the majority requirement of 118.

Although portfolios were allocated to the initial set of ministers on May 16, important departments such as Agriculture, Forests, Revenue, Housing, Cooperatives, and MSME continue to remain vacant.

Left parties have, meanwhile, reiterated that they will continue extending outside support and have no plans to join the Cabinet. They had also cautioned against giving ministerial positions to AIADMK dissidents.

–IANS

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