• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

TVK chief C Joseph Vijay on Sunday took oath as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, marking the beginning of the party’s first government in the state. Along with him, nine other leaders were sworn in as cabinet ministers, including N Anand, Aadhav Arjuna, KA Sengottaiyan, P Venkataramanan, R Nirmalkumar, Rajmohan, TK Prabhu, KG Anuraj and S Keerthana.

Among them is S Keerthana, the 29-year-old Sivakasi MLA who became the youngest minister in Vijay’s cabinet and the only woman face in the newly formed government. Keerthana won from Sivakasi, with a margin of 11,697 votes in the recently concluded elections. 

ALSO READ: Vijay Takes Charge As Tamil Nadu CM; Know His Journey From Blockbuster Hero To State's Top Political Office

Who Is S Keerthana?

A postgraduate and multilingual speaker, Keerthana scripted history by becoming the first female MLA from Sivakasi, ending nearly seven decades of male dominance in the constituency. 

Before entering active political life, Keerthana worked for Showtime Consulting as a political consultant and digital campaign strategist, and with IPAC. She did a lot of work for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) elections, Trinamool Congress (TMC), and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) campaigns.

She has worked with the following CM's: Stalin, Mamata Banerjee (CM) and incumbent AP CM Chandrababu Naidu.

Keerthana speaks many languages, including Tamil, English, Hindi and Telugu. Hindi is one of her fluent languages and has garnered attention from others due to her language skills and ability to speak the language fluently, especially considering Tamil Nadu, where language remains a sensitive and politically significant issue.

Speaking after taking the oath, Keerthana said the new government would aim to set an example in governance. “It’s unbelievable because no other state would even have such a kind of Cabinet Minister. Nobody would give us such a chance. We are going to show the world how well we can run the government,” she told PTI. 

ALSO READ: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma Elected As NDA Leader, Set To Return As Chief Minister On May 12

Calling it the beginning of a “new era” in Tamil Nadu politics, Vijay thanked the people for their mandate and urged everyone to work together towards a government rooted in secularism and social justice. “Come, let all of us together give Tamil Nadu a fresh new government. This is a new beginning, the start of a new era of secular, social justice,” the chief minister said during the ceremony. 

It took Vijay five days, four meetings and numerous conversations with his supporting coalition partners to assemble the necessary votes to obtain a simple majority within the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly before being able to take the oath of office as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at 10:00 AM this morning in the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, resulting in a new government in Tamil Nadu that was neither connected to either DMK or AIADMK since the last election cycle (60 years ago). 


Also In News