Cabinet expansion CM''s prerogative: TN Minister Sengottaiyan

Coimbatore/Chennai, May 17 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Finance Minister K A Sengottaiyan on Sunday said that Cabinet expansion was the CM’s prerogative and hinted that it could be carried out in a phased manner.

Speaking to reporters at Coimbatore airport, the senior TVK leader said, when asked about the scope for Cabinet expansion and the possibility of AIADMK rebels being included in the Council of Ministers led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, that the practice of initially forming a small Cabinet has long been in vogue.

Sengottaiyan said that even late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had initially inducted only seven ministers and later expanded her Cabinet in phases, indicating that a similar trend could be expected.

He further said that matters such

as Cabinet expansion are the CM’s prerogative and only he has the authority to decide on it.

When asked again about the scope for AIADMK rebels in the Cabinet led by Vijay, he retorted, “Only you have to tell me.” The senior leader, when asked about rebel AIADMK office-bearers being removed from their posts in the context of their support for the TVK government, criticised AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami without directly naming him.

He said, “The party built and nurtured by Puratchi Thalaivar MGR (M G Ramachandran) and Puratchi Thalaivi Amma (Jayalalithaa) has been weakened because of him. He thinks only he is enough for the party. Time will change that situation.” Responding to a question related to CM Vijay and others in the ruling party targeting the previous DMK regime for allegedly “emptying the treasury” and burdening the state with a debt of about Rs 10 lakh crore, Sengottaiyan questioned whether journalists were aware of the actual state of public finances.

The finance minister had been with the AIADMK for about 50 years before joining TVK last year. However, it is not immediately clear during which tenure the late AIADMK supremo first inducted a seven-member Cabinet. PTI VGN SSK