Coimbatore Ministers Get Backward Classes Welfare and Prohibition and Excise in Vijay’s Expanded Tamil Nadu Cabinet

Coimbatore North MLA V. Sampath Kumar was allotted Backward Classes Welfare while Kinathukadavu MLA Vignesh K received the Prohibition and Excise portfolio in Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s expanded 32-member Tamil Nadu cabinet on Thursday.


Coimbatore:

Coimbatore North MLA V. Sampath Kumar was inducted as Minister for Backward Classes Welfare, Most Backward Classes Welfare and De-notified Communities Welfare, while Kinathukadavu MLA Vignesh K was sworn in as Minister for Prohibition and Excise in Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s expanded Tamil Nadu cabinet on Thursday.

Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay expanded his ministry from the initial 9-member cabinet sworn in earlier this month to a full-fledged 32-member council of ministers following the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The expansion included 23 new ministers, including two from the Congress party.

The cabinet expansion is being seen as a major political balancing exercise aimed at strengthening regional and social representation in the new government. Out of the 32 ministers in the cabinet, seven ministers belong to the Dalit community, including six from TVK and one from Congress.

According to the official Lok Bhavan press release issued on May 21, several key portfolios were reshuffled in the cabinet. K.A. Sengottaiyan, who was earlier handling the Finance portfolio, was shifted to Revenue and Disaster Management. Finance, Planning and Development was assigned to N. Marie Wilson.

Among the newly inducted ministers are Srinath for Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare, Kamali S for Animal Husbandry, C. Vijayalakshmi for Milk and Dairy Development, R.V. Ranjithkumar for Forests, Vinoth for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rajeev for Environment and Climate Change, B. Rajkumar for Housing and Urban Development, Kumar R for Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology and Digital Services, Mohamed Farvas J for Labour Welfare and D. Sarathkumar for Human Resources Management.

Congress leaders Rajesh Kumar and P. Viswanathan were also inducted into the cabinet, marking the party’s return to the Tamil Nadu government after several decades. The expansion comes after TVK emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly and formed the government with alliance support after the 2026 elections.

The induction of two ministers from Coimbatore district is being viewed as a significant political development for the western region, which played an important role in TVK’s electoral performance in the Assembly elections.

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