Days after being sworn in as the ninth chief minister of Tamil Nadu, C Joseph Vijay on Saturday allocated portfolios to 10 ministers, including himself. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) supremo kept the home ministry to himself and will be responsible for handling the public, general admin, police, women and youth welfare departments.
78-year-old KA Sengottaiyan, a close aide of Vijay, has been allocated the finance department, while KG Arunraj will handle the health and family welfare, said the Lok Bhavan in a statement. Meanwhile, N Anand has been designated minister for rural development and water resources.
Minister Aadhav Arjuna, who contested the recently held Tamil Nadu elections from the Villivakkam seat, will handle the public works, sports and development, while P Venkataramanan has been allocated the food, civil supplies.
R Nirmalkumar will handle the energy and law departments, and Rajmohan has been made the school education minister. On the other hand, TK Prabhu and S Keerthana have been given natural resources and industries departments, respectively, the Lok Bhavan's release stated.
Vijay's grand swearing in ceremony
Vijay's oath-taking ceremony was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai, with thousands of people attending it. The attendees also included Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.
The actor-politician was sworn in after four days of headache to prove the numbers. His party won 108 seats, including two of Vijay, to emerge as the single largest party in the 2026 assembly elections, but was short of majority mark of 118. Later, he received support of the Congress, the Left parties, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) to form the government.
On Wednesday, his government also won the trust vote in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, winning by 144 votes in favour and 22 against amid a walkout staged by former Chief Minister MK Stalin's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). On the other hand, 25 MLAs of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) also backed Vijay.
"This government runs at horse-speed, not through horse-trading," Vijay said after winning the trust vote. "All religions are our religions. All people are our people. There will be no discrimination between those who voted for us and those who did not. This is a government for everyone. This is a government for the common people."
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