A NEW DAWN BECKONS

Chief minister M.K. Stalin promises a break from the past, a government for all the people. Can he live up to it?

- Amarnath K. Menon

Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin is a man in a hurry. After assuming office, on May 7 he assessed the precarious Covid-19 situation in the state and opted for a bold but unpopular decision. Putting lives over livelihoods, he imposed a fortnight-long lockdown from May 10 in an attempt to break the chain in the spread of the virus.

At the first cabinet meeting on May 9, he underlined the seriousness of the situation to his colleagues in the cabinet before despatching 22 of them to 14 high prevalence districts. They will be stationed there during the lockdown to oversee all Covid-related initiatives. Continuity and change, a mix of the old and the new has been the standout feature of Stalin’s choices for his cabinet. So old warhorses like S. Durarimurugan (irrigation), K.N. Nehru (municipal administration) and I. Periyasamy (cooperatives), now in their seventies and eighties but still active, are in the mix with relative newbies like P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan (finance). Duraimurugan, also the party treasurer, Nehru, Ma Subramanian (health), E.V. Velu (public works) and T.R. Baalu (Lok Sabha MP), form the core group around the chief minister. Their inputs, say analysts, would have contributed to Stalin’s choice of ministers. Significantly, 15 of the 33 ministers in his team are new faces.