Tamil Nadu Cabinet rejig: Senthil Balaji re-inducted, 3 ministers dropped

Chief Minister MK Stalin recommended Senthil Balaji's name, alongside Dr Govi Chezhiaan, R Rajendran, and SM Nasar, to be inducted into the council of ministers, which Governor RN Ravi approved.

In Short

• Balaji got bail in money laundering case just two days ago
• Dr Govi Chezhiaan, R Rajendran, SM Nasar also make Cabinet
• Chief Minister MK Stalin drops three ministers in current Cabinet

Just two days after he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in connection with a money laundering case, DMK leader V Senthil Balaji was re-introduced into the Tamil Nadu Cabinet by Chief Minister MK Stalin, a Raj Bhavan statement said on Saturday.

Stalin recommended Senthil Balaji's name, alongside Dr Govi Chezhiaan, R Rajendran, and SM Nasar, to be inducted into the council of ministers, which Governor RN Ravi approved, the statement added.

Also, Chief Minister MK Stalin's son Udayanidhi Stalin has also been designated as the Deputy Chief Minister apart from the Minister of Planning and Development, on top of the portfolios he is already holding.

The newly-designated ministers will take oath of office at around 3:30 pm on Sunday at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai, the statement further said.

However, three ministers, T Mano Thangaraj (Minister of Milk and Dairy Development), Gingee KS Masthan (Minister of Minorities Welfare and Non-Resident Tamils Welfare) and K Ramachandran (Minister of Tourism) have been dropped from the cabinet.

On Thursday, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices AS Oka and AG Masih granted bail to Balaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in June last year in a money laundering case linked to a cash-for-jobs scam.

Balaji had approached the Supreme Court with his bail petition after the Madras High Court dismissed his plea on February 28.

V Senthil Balaji was a minister without portfolio when he was last a member of the MK Stalin Cabinet in Tamil Nadu. Before that, he held key portfolios as Minister of Electricity and Prohibition & Excise from May 2021 to June 2023, and Minister of Transport from May 2011 to September 2014, this time in the Cabinet of the then Chief Minister J Jayalalitha.