​Changes at the top: On the Tamil Nadu cabinet reshuffle  Politics & News

The much-awaited shuffle of the Tamil Nadu Cabinet, headed by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, was on expected lines, even if not wholly appropriate. There was no major surgery nor any infusion of talent. Three Ministers were dropped, four Ministers, including an old face, were inducted and the portfolios of seven Ministers were changed. The exercise saw representation based on region and caste, a notable inclusion being Govi Chezhiaan, three-time legislator from Thiruvidaimaruthur in the State’s central region and belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC). He has been allocated the Higher Education portfolio that was held by DMK heavyweight K. Ponmudy. After the practice, from 2006, to have separate Ministers to handle school and higher education, this is the first time that an SC legislator has been given a key portfolio, perhaps to counter criticism that the Dravidian majors, the DMK and the AIADMK, do not allocate important portfolios to SCs. The shuffle also met two objectives — elevating Youth Welfare and Sports Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin as Deputy Chief Minister and re-inducting V. Senthilbalaji, who was released on bail by the Supreme Court days earlier.

Mr. Udhayanidhi, who was ranked tenth in the Cabinet hierarchy, now moves to the third spot, with Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan, who became an MLA in 1971, retaining second spot. It reflects a similar arrangement in 2009 when Mr. Stalin became Deputy Chief Minister during the chief ministership of M. Karunanidhi. Then Finance Minister and the DMK’s long-standing General Secretary, K. Anbazhagan, retained the second slot. Ever since Mr. Udhayanidhi’s induction as a Minister in December 2022, he has risen in the party and is a “man in demand”. But his elevation now raises questions given his political inexperience. As in much of south Asia, dynastic politics has become a norm, which is at variance with democratic principles and social justice. It is also about whether “dynasts” can fulfil the legitimate aspirations of the people they represent. Mr. Udhayanidhi could emerge a leader in his own right if he is able to handle this and stays away from sycophants. A disturbing feature of the Cabinet rejig is the re-entry of Mr. Senthilbalaji as Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise, considered to be ‘cash cow portfolios’, that he held prior to his imprisonment in June 2023 in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate in 2021. The main allegation against the Minister concerns the collection of bribes from job aspirants by his associates when he was Transport Minister (2011-15) during the AIADMK regime. As we have already pointed out, the cause of justice for the victims of the job scandal and a fair trial for the accused would be served well if Mr. Senthilbalaji is kept out of the Cabinet until he is cleared of the charges.