Chennai: AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for a record sixth time along with 28 cabinet colleagues on Monday at a glittering ceremony for which invitations were extended to several national leaders.
Parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu represented Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ceremony, who is away in Iran on an official visit. The ceremony took place at the centenary auditorium of Madras University.
Jayalalitha stormed back into power in Tamil Nadu in the recently concluded Assembly elections with her party AIADMK winning 134 seats out of 232. She created history by becoming the only chief minister to be elected for a second consecutive term in over three decades in Tamil Nadu.
Read: How 'Thalaivi' Jayalalithaa single-handedly steered AIADMK to power
The AIADMK supremo retained 15 of her ministers who were in the previous cabinet and 13 new faces including three women.
DMK treasurer M K Stalin, former DMK Ministers EV Velu, Ponmudy, party MLAs Sekhar Babu, Vagai Chandrasekhar and Ku Ka Selvam also attended the ceremony. For decades both AIADMK and DMK leaders had kept away from the oath-taking ceremonies of rivals, but this ceremony broke the practice of the rivals keeping away from the other's ceremony.
Amid slogans of "Puratchi Thalaivi Amma Vazhga (Long live revolutionary leader Amma) by AIADMK supporters, Jayalalithaa stepped into the decorated Madras University Auditorium in her trademark green saree.
Jayalalithaa at the swearing-in ceremony held at Madras University.
While Jayalalithaa took oath alone, others were sworn-in in groups in a brief ceremony lasting less than 30 minutes.
Ministers in the outgoing Cabinet Natham Viswanathan, Vaithilingam, newly elected MLAs, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs of the ruling party were also amongst the audience.
The ministers retained were O Panneerselvam (Finance), Eddapadi K Palaniswami (Public Works), Sellur K Raju (Cooperation), P Thangamani (Electricity), SP Velumani (Municipal Administration), D Jayakumar (Fisheries), CV Shanmugam (Law, courts), KP Anbazhagan (Higher Education), MC Sampath (Labour), R Kamaraj (Food and Civil Supplies), C Vijayabaskar (Health), SP Shanmuganathan (Milk and Dairy), RB Udhaya Kumar (Revenue), KT Rajenthra Balaji (Rural Industries), and K C Veeramani (Commercial Taxes).
Those retained include ministers in the outgoing Cabinet such as Jayalalithaa's trusted lieutenant O Panneerselvam. Others like CV Shanmugam, who had a stint during 2011-16 and were dropped later, have also found a place in the cabinet.
The new faces are Dindigul Srinivasan (Forest), V Saroja (Social Welfare), KC Karuppannan (Environment), OS Manian (Textiles and Handlooms), Udumalai Radhakrishnan (Housing), R Duraikannu (Agriculture and Animal Husbandry), Kadambur Raju (Information), Benjamin (School Education), Vellamandi N Natarajan (Toursim), S Valamathi (Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare), VM Rajalakshmi (Adi Dravidar Welfare), M Manigandan (Information Technology), and MR Vijayabaskar (Transport).
The entire route from Jayalalithaa's Poes garden
residence to the swearing-in venue was filled with cheering AIADMK supporters who showered rose petals on her vehicle as it whizzed past.
Musicians, including drummers, were seen playing instruments welcoming the AIADMK supremo as many party workers danced.
The function culminated with the customary group photograph of the Governor with the Chief Minister and her new cabinet ministers.
Filmstars, including comedians, who campaigned for Jayalalithaa, were also seen among the audience. AIADMK supporters in parts of the state distributed sweets and greeted each other on the occasion.
