The AIADMK Cabinet that will be sworn in at noon on Monday is a well-balanced one. Among the 29 Ministers who will take oath are three doctors, three lawyers and 15 graduates. Among the party candidates who contested the election, there were over 140 graduates, of whom around 100 had law degrees.
‘Many new faces’
“There are many new faces among the Minister-designates. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa always likes to give opportunities to educated youngsters. Even in the Lok Sabha, there are many AIADMK MPs who are young. Even party posts are given to the youth. She wants them to take her policies to the people,” claimed a source in the AIADMK.
Caste figures
Caste-wise representation too has been made. “Right from Kamaraj’s time, Chief Ministers have thought of providing enough representation to the various communities. The Thevars take the largest slice of the cake — they are nine in number. This could be due to the fact that a large number of them emerged victorious. Among the candidates, there were 18 Gounders, 25 Thevars and 41 Vanniyars,” explained a political observer. Apart from the Thevars, there are seven Ministers from the eight western districts which gave the AIADMK its largest share of seats in Tamil Nadu. “There is also representation for Dalits, Vellalar, Naidu, Chettiar, Vishwakarma and fishermen communities. But since one region has taken away a clutch of Ministers, there are several districts that are not represented including Kancheepuram, Krishnagiri, Ariyalur, Nilgiris, Perambalur, Sivaganga, Tirunelveli and Tiruvannamalai,” pointed out a political observer.
Incidentally, Kanniyakumari will be unrepresented in the Cabinet as the party had lost all six seats there.
All other districts have been represented with at least one berth in the Cabinet and the select few to get more than one include Chennai (Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and D. Jayakumar), Madurai (Sellur K. Raju and R.B. Udhayakumar), Namakkal (P. Thangamani and V. Saroja), Thoothukudi (C. Kadambur Raju and S.P. Shanmuganathan) and Tiruchi (S. Valarmathi and N. Natarajan).
No Muslims
Incidentally, the new Cabinet will not have any representation from the Muslim community. Usually, parties give a token representation to Christians and Muslims in ministries.
‘Jayalalithaa always likes to give opportunities to educated youngsters’
