Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin, who was inducted as the 35th Minister in the State Cabinet today, was made the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development.
Elected to the State Assembly from the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni seat in the city, Udhayanidhi was also given the additional portfolios of Special Programme Implementation Department and Poverty Alleviation Programme and Rural Indebtedness.
Later, talking to reporters after being sworn in as Minister, Udhayanidhi said he would not be unduly bothered about the Opposition charge of dynastic politics and concentrate on his work to make Tamil Nadu the Sports Capital of the country.
Governor R.N.Ravi also reallocated the portfolios of ten other Ministers on the recommendations of the Chief Minister. This is the first major reshuffle of portfolios effected by the Chief Minister after the DMK stormed back to power after a gap of ten years in the 2021 May Assembly polls with a thumping majority.
Earlier in the third week of March this year, Stalin swapped the portfolios of two of his Cabinet colleagues divesting Minister for Transport R S Rajakannappan of his portfolio and made him Minister of Backward Classes Welfare. S.S.Sivasankar, who held the portfolio of Backward Classes Welfare was made the Transport Minister.
A Raj Bhavan release here today said Minister for Cooperation I.Periyasamy has been made Minister for Rural Development, while Housing and Urban Development Minister S.Muthusamy was given the portfolios of Housing, Rural Housing, Town Planning Projects and Housing Development, Accommodation Control, Urban Planning and Urban Development.
Rural Development Minister K.R.Periyakaruppan was made the Minister for Cooperation, while Backward Classes Welfare Minister Raja Kannappan was given the additional charge of Khadi and Village Industries Board.
Forests Minister K.Ramachandran was redesignated as Minister for Tourism, and Handlooms and Textiles Minister R.Gandhi was given the additional charge of Boodhan and Gramadhan.
Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister P.K.Sekar Babu was given the additional charge and the key portfolio of CMDA, while Finance and Human Resources Management Minister Dr.Palanivel Thiagarajan was allotted the portfolios of Finance, Planning, Human Resources Management, Pensions and Pensionary benefits and Statistics, and Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Youth Welfare and Sports Development Siva V.Meyyanathan was made Minister for Environment and Climate Change after the Youth Welfare and Sports Development portfolio was allocated to Udhayanidhi Stalin.
Dr.M.Mathiventhan, Minister for Tourism was redesignated as Minister for Forests.
