Within few hours after the Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was sworn-in by the Governor on Monday, the Cabinet was expanded with the induction of four new Ministers. Portfolios held by four Ministers, who were sworn in earlier in the morning, were divested and allocated to the new Ministers, who will be administered the oath of office on Wednesday.
An official release said, the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister had inducted, G. Baskaran (Sivaganga MLA) as Minister for Khadi and Village Industries Board, Bhoodan and Gramadhan; Sevvoor S. Ramachandran (Aarani MLA) as Minister for Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments and Tamil Official Languages & Tamil Culture; Nilofer Kafeel (Vanniyambadi MLA) as the Minister for Labour and Employment; and P Balakrishna Reddy (Hosur MLA) as Minister for Animal Husbandry.
With their induction, the new dispensation has addressed the grievance of some sections that there was no representation for Muslims and linguistic minorities in the Cabinet.
The portfolios allocated to the new ministers were originally allocated as additional portfolios to O.S. Manian (Khadhi and Village Industries Board), R. Kamaraj (HR&CE), Sellur K. Raju (Labour) and R. Duraikannu (Animal Husbandry).
