Tamil Nadu Cabinet has a Gandhi, Nehru, and Stalin

What’s in a name? A lot, if you are a member of the new council of ministers in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu’s new cabinet has a Gandhi, Nehru, and well, Stalin. Thiru MK Stalin, the chief of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which won the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, had submitted a list of 34 ministers who would be appointed in the state cabinet to the Tamil Nadu Governor. TN Governor Banwarilal Purohit on May 6 approved the list of ministers ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of DMK supremo MK Stalin on May 7. The new Tamil Nadu Cabinet will have some unusual names banded together as MK Stalin has proposed KN Nehru’s name for the portfolio of Minister for Municipal Administration in charge of Urban and Water Supply and R Gandhi's name for Handlooms and Textiles, Khadi and Village Industries Board, and Boodhan and Gramadhan. Stalin, who is the son of former chief minister M Karunanidhi, had started his political career early and won for the first time from Thousand Light constituency in Chennai in 1989. A former deputy CM of Tamil Nadu himself, Stalin will take over the reins of the state after a gap of 10 years. R Gandhi was elected to the Tamil Nadu Assembly from Ranipet constituency as a DMK candidate first in 1996. Gandhi, along with his wife and son, was among several DMK ministers who were charged with holding disproportionate assets. The charges were later quashed by the courts due to a lack of evidence. KN Nehru -- DMK ‘s principal secretary and party veteran -- contested the fifth straight elections from the Tiruchi West constituency. The veteran leader was named after Jawaharlal Nehru by his father, who was a staunch Congressman. However, the family shifted allegiance to the DMK in the late 1960s and Nehru has been a strongman of the party since he won his first elections in 1989. Out of the 234 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, DMK won 133 in the 2021 state polls, while AIADMK won 66. The Congress party has bagged 18 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party got four seats.