New Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin starts work by signing files

Chennai: State Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Udhayanidhi Stalin, started work by signing three files relating the encouragement of traditional games and for the welfare of sports persons at his office in the Secretariat on Wednesday soon after he was sworn in as the 35th member of the State Cabinet at the Raj Bhavan by Governor R N Ravi.

Entrusted with the portfolios of Youth Welfare, Sports Development, Special Programme Implementations and Poverty Alleviation Programme and Rural Indebtedness, Udhayanidhi Stalin rushed to the Secretariat after the brief function at the Durbar Hall, where he was administered the oath of office and oath of secrecy.

Before leaving home for the event, he sought the blessings of his parents, Chief Minister M K Stalin and Durga Stalin, and after signing the three files he went out to pay respects to the stalwarts of the Dravidian movement Periyar E V Ramsamy, C N Annadurai, M Karunanidhi and K Anbazhagan by paying floral tributes at their memorials or portraits.

Leaders of DMK’s alliance partner, PMK’s G K Mani, family members of Udhayanidhi Stalin like his cousin Durai Dayanidhi, his ministerial colleagues, and some top party leaders attended the function that lasted for just over 30 minutes. The entire cabinet then posed for a photograph with the Governor inside the Raj Bhavan premises.

Udhayanidhi Stalin vowed to overcome the criticism that he was facing now with action. He would take the responsibility entrusted with him by the Chief Minister now as a challenge and prove his mettle as a Minister just as he had done in earlier occasions like when he was given the DMK Youth Wing secretary post, he said.

He was facing a spate of criticism now in the same fashion he encountered a fusillade of hostile disapproval when he was made the Youth Wing secretary and also when he was given a seat by the DMK to contest the Assembly elections in 2021, Udhayanidhi Stalin said.

The files that he signed on day one related to the holding of State-level tournaments for kabaddi and Silambattam for the Chief Minister’s trophy, sanctioning payment of pension to nine impoverished and aged former sportspersons and approving a Rs 4 lakh incentive to international shooting champion Nivedha of Coimbatore.

The former sports persons would get Rs 3000 a month for the period between March 1 and August 1 and Rs 6000 a month from August 2 till their death.

Stalin, while allocating portfolios that included one earlier held by him to the new entrant into the Ministry, also shuffled the portfolios of a few other ministerial colleagues. So, Periyasamy is now Minister for Rural Development with the cooperation portfolio earlier held by him going to the previous Rural Development Minister K R Periyakaruppan.

Palanivel Thiaga Rajan now holds finance, planning, human resources management, pensions and pensionary benefits and statistics, R S Raja Kannappan Backward Classes welfare, Most Backward Classes Welfare, Denotified Communities welfare and Khadi and village industries board and S Muthusamy housing, rural housing, town planning projects and housing development, accommodation control, urban planning and urban development.

The others whose portfolios saw are change were K Ramachandran getting tourism and tourism development corporation, R Gandhi getting handlooms and textiles, Boodhan and Gramadhan, P K Sekar Babu getting CMDA in addition to the HR & CE that he held already, Siva V Meyyanathan getting environment and pollution control and ex-servicemen and M Mathiventhan getting forests.