TVK, AIADMK, DMK and PMK claim credit for strengthening the SC
With the TVK cabinet boasting of eight ministers from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, the AIADMK, DMK and PMK have also claimed credit for strengthening the SC.
Reiterating the SC’s impressive representation in Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s cabinet, Public Works Minister Aadhav Arjuna urged the parties to drop the term Thazhthapatta makkal (oppressed people) and consider using a more neutral term – Scheduled Castes.
During the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor for his Assembly address, AIADMK Harur MLA V. Sampathkumar spoke about how AIADMK governments in the past had ensured that SCs were given prominent roles, including that of Speaker.
PMK’s Gingee MLA, A. Ganeshkumar, said the party had nominated Scheduled Caste MPs as ministers in the Union Cabinet in 1998 and 1999.
DMK MLA and former higher education minister Govi Chezhiyaan pointed out the increased representation of SCs in the previous cabinet.
AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami also spoke out saying that late AIADMK leader MG Ramachandran had removed caste-based names from public places, especially streets and roads.
AIADMK MLA Sampathkumar urged the state government to consider establishing Harur as a new district.
Finance Minister invokes Bible to warn CM Vijay
Minister of State for Finance Maria Wilson said on the floor of the Assembly on Friday that “Tamil Nadu has a new Joseph” just as “Old and New Testaments have their own Joseph”.
When AIADMK MLA Sampathkumar, who sought to know why the “White Paper” on Tamil Nadu’s finances was not tabled in the State Assembly despite the announcement that the State Assembly would be convened on June 18, Finance Minister Wilson said that the opposition parties continued to dwell on the “old ways” and that the change should be appreciated.
Finance Minister Wilson further said that Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay wants to ensure a “transparent and corruption-free” government.
Published – 19 Jun 2026 23:53 IST