Minister for Public Works Aadhav Arjuna on Monday engaged the DMK MLAs in a debate over the welfare of Scheduled Castes and their representation and the DMK’s ability to attract minority votes without having the Congress in its coalition.

When former Higher Education Minister Govi Chezhiaan said the DMK had built a manimandapam for B.R. Ambedkar and renamed the Madras Law College as Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, along with the DMK’s other contributions towards empowering Scheduled Castes, the current Higher Education Minister P. Viswanathan recalled that it was the Congress government in the 60s that had given Cabinet berths to P. Kakkan, who served as the State Home Minister and to B. Parameswaran, who served as Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments.

‘DMK cadre’s hardwork’

When Mr. Govi Chezhiaan responded stating that it was due to the contribution and hardwork of the DMK cadre that Mr. Viswanathan won from Melur constituency, Mr. Aadhav retorted: “DMK often says that they are the reason why coalition parties such as the Congress, the VCK, the IUML won. The DMK had 22 to 23 party alliances, and they won three consecutive elections comprehensively. But, in 2026, the TVK became the single largest party. If the DMK didn’t have their alliance partners — the Congress, VCK, IUML and the Left parties — they would have won just 10 seats. The reason why Muslims voted in Chennai is due to the Congress and the VCK. But, in 2026, they have lost 14 seats in Chennai. They would have lost the two seats in Chennai too.”

The Minister added: “Can the DMK contest alone and win 50 seats?”

After DMK MLA K.N. Nehru asserted that the Congress could never win without the support of the DMK, Congress MLA Tharahai Cuthbert said the Bharat Jodo Yatra undertaken by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was instrumental in the DMK alliance winning all of its Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu. In response, Mr. Nehru said: “You went on a yatra across India. But, in Tamil Nadu alone, you got 10 seats.”

With seven of the 33 Ministers sworn into the new Cabinet on Thursday winning from Chennai constituencies, the State capital has secured one of its strongest representations in the Tamil Nadu Council of Ministers in recent years.

This includes Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) head C. Joseph Vijay, the MLA from Perambur who holds the Municipal Administration, Urban and Water Supply portfolio in addition to other key sectors. Since many in the top leadership of the TVK decided to contest from Chennai, and leaders became ministers, the city’s contribution to the current cabinet is among the highest ever.

TVK general secretary and T. Nagar MLA N. Anand is the Minister for Rural Development and Water Resources. TVK general secretary (election campaign management) and Villivakkam MLA Aadhav Arjuna is the Minister for Public Works and Sports Development. Similarly, Egmore (SC) MLA Rajmohan is the Minister for School Education, Tamil Development, Information and Publicity, and Mylapore MLA P. Venkataramanan is the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies.

Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar MLA N. Marie Wilson holds the Finance, Planning, and Development portfolios while Velachery legislator R. Kumar has been assigned the portfolio of Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology and Digital Services.

Past years

The current allocation marks a significant increase in representation for Chennai compared to the previous administrations.

In the 2021 DMK Cabinet headed by former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who represented Kolathur, only three MLAs from the city were present, including P.K. Sekarbabu (Harbour) and Ma. Subramanian (Saidapet). Later, Udhayanidhi Stalin was sworn in as the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development in December 2022.

Before that, the 2016 AIADMK Cabinet featured just two Ministers from Chennai, including former CM J. Jayalalithaa (Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar) and D. Jayakumar (Royapuram). Similarly, the 2011 AIADMK government included only two city representatives, G. Senthamizhan (Saidapet) and Gokula Indira (Anna Nagar).