Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday invited DMK President M K Stalin to form the government in the state following his party's comfortable win in the just-concluded Assembly elections.
Purohit's invitation came hours after Stalin met him with senior leaders and staked the claim to form the government by submitting a resolution electing him as leader of the DMK Legislature Party.
Stalin will be sworn in as chief minister on Friday at 9 am in a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan. “We submitted the resolution passed at the DMK Legislature Party on Tuesday and staked claim to form the government,” DMK Rajya Sabha MP and organising secretary R S Bharathi told reporters.
Hours later, officials from the Raj Bhavan met Stalin and discussed the swearing-in ceremony. Invitations for the ceremony are being sent out to VVIPs.
Sources said Stalin is likely to firm up the names for his Cabinet by Wednesday or Thursday, with party leaders hoping that the ministry will be a mix of young faces and experienced seniors. The DMK is coming to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years and there is intense lobbying for ministerial positions in the party.
Party IT wing chief P T R Thiaga Rajan, Anbil Mahesh, who hails from a traditional DMK family and shares an excellent rapport with Udhayanidhi Stalin, and former Chennai Mayor Ma Subramanian are some of the leaders who are likely to be made ministers for the first time. Seniors like K Ponmudy, K N Nehru, I Periyasamy, and former ministers Thangam Thennarasu, and Geetha Jeevan are also likely to be inducted into the cabinet.
The DMK has won 133 seats on its own, while its allies have emerged victorious in 26 seats. Since the DMK government will assume office during a pandemic, there will be no time to settle down – Stalin has already begun chairing Covid-19 review meetings with Chief Secretary Rajiv Ranjan and other officials.
The new government has a multitude of issues to contend with like controlling the spread of Covid-19, ramping up vaccination drive, attending to the poor fiscal health of the state, and fulfilling a slew of promises made in the election manifesto.
Keeping Covid-19 cases under check, swinging into action to keep the medical infrastructure ready for any third wave and accelerating the vaccination drive – Tamil Nadu has one of the lowest numbers – would be the biggest challenges for the new dispensation. The state added over 21,000 cases on Tuesday and hospital beds, including those created during the pandemic, are filling up fast.