‘No disappointments but change’: TN Chief Minister Stalin says cabinet to be rejigged soon

Chennai, Sep 24 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday said that he would carry out a rejig in his cabinet soon and stressed that there won’t be any “disappointments” but “change”.

He made the comments while speaking to media persons on the sidelines of an event at his Assembly constituency Kalathur.

This is the first time that Stalin has been open about a shuffle in his cabinet.

Amid speculations on the elevation of his son and state Sports Development and Youth Affairs Minister as Deputy Chief Minister of the state, Stalin, asked about this prospect, only said: “There would be no disappointments, there would be change”.

Till August, Stalin had not been forthcoming to questions about the possible reshuffle of his cabinet as well as the elevation of his son Udhayanidhi.

Sources in the DMK told IANS that the shuffle would be implemented after jailed minister V. Senthil Balaji comes out of prison as the DMK is expecting him to get relief from the Supreme Court where he has moved an appeal.

DMK leaders told IANS that the Chief Minister is likely to drop a couple of ministers and include a couple of young MLAs into the cabinet. There will also be a shuffle in the portfolios of existing ministers with P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan likely to get back the coveted Finance portfolio. However, the sources said that if Senthil Balaji’s bail application is rejected by the Supreme Court, then only the elevation of Udhayanidhi Stalin will take place and the reshuffle will be put on hold.

Last Wednesday, Stalin had gone into a huddle with the senior leaders at the party headquarters, giving rise to speculations that a rejig in his cabinet was on the cards.

While Tamil Nadu’s ruling dispensation is a coalition led by the DMK, the cabinet has only DMK members. Recently, some leaders of coalition partner Congress had raised demands for being included in the cabinet but the DMK has rejected this.

–IANS

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