Tamil Nadu witnessed another round of Cabinet expansion on Friday as Chief Minister Joseph Vijay inducted two alliance partners into the government. The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which had initially announced support from outside, now joined the ruling alliance formally. The two MLAs - IUML leader AM Shahjahan from the Papanasam Assembly constituency and VCK leader Vanni Arasu from the Tindivanam constituency took oath on May 22.
Ahead of Thursday's major Cabinet reshuffle, the Chief Minister had requested both VCK and IUML to join the government. However, both parties delayed finalising the names of suitable MLAs for ministerial posts. Due to this delay, a total of 23 MLAs, including two from the Congress and 21 from the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), were sworn in on Thursday. Notably, Tamil Nadu can have a total of 35 ministers. With nine MLAs having already taken oath alongside the Chief Minister, only two ministerial berths remained vacant. These two vacancies now got filled by VCK's Vanni Arasu and IUML's Shahjahan on May 22.
Left parties pressure CM Vijay to exclude AIADMK rebels
Sources say the left parties and other smaller allies supporting the TVK government mounted pressure on CM Vijay during the trust vote. This led him to keep away the 25 rebel AIADMK MLAs who cross-voted in favour of the government. The rebels had broken away reportedly with the backing of senior AIADMK leaders CV Shanmugam, SP Velumani and Vijay Bhaskar. It was widely believed that their real objective was to secure ministerial berths in the new government.
Legal concerns and alliance pressure stopped their entry
According to sources, threats by alliance partners to withdraw support and legal concerns over the political future of the rebel MLAs led the Chief Minister to distance himself from them for now. AIADMK had issued a whip to vote against the government during the trust vote. The 25 rebels defied the whip and now face the risk of disqualification.
Their situation has become politically unstable after being denied entry into the TVK government. On Thursday, following the Cabinet expansion, nine of the 25 MLAs reportedly distanced themselves from Shanmugam -- the leader of the rebel bloc. The AIADMK leadership believes that most of the rebels may return to the party in the coming days.
Rebel leaders soften stand as pressure builds
Senior rebel leaders who were earlier demanding the resignation of AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami now appear to be softening their position. They are now asking for the AIADMK General Council, the party's highest decision-making body, to meet and review the recent setbacks.
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