DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, heading a
31-member ministry, was on Saturday sworn in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the record fifth time.
Updated at noon
CHENNAI: DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, heading a 31-member ministry, was on Saturday sworn in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the record fifth time.
Governor Surjit Singh Baranala administered the oath of office and secrecy to Karunanidhi and his Cabinet colleagues at an impressive function at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here at 11 am.
The crowd cheered as the octogenarian took the oath and assumed office as chief minister.
Karunanidhi, accompanied by Cabinet colleagues, paid respects to rationalist leader Periyar E V Ramasamy, his mentor CN Annadurai and Congress leader K Kamaraj by visiting their memorials.
After Karunanidhi took the oath, K Anbazhagan, Arcot N Veerasamy and M K Stalin followed suit as finance, electricity and local administration ministers respectively.
Cheers rent the air in the stadium when the Governor invited Stalin, who is Karunanidhi's son, to assume office. Stalin failed to find berths in the earlier DMK regimes in 1989 and 1996.
He was followed by Ko Si Mani, a former minister hailing from Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district and Veerapandi Arumugam, the party's strong man in Salem. They assumed office as cooperation and agriculture ministers respectively.
The dignitaries who attended the function from the Congress side were Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy, Panchayat Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, Ministers G K Vasan and EVKS Elangovan and Tamil Nadu Congress Commitee chief M Krishnasamy.
Leaders of other alliance partners who were present were PMK founder leader S Ramadoss, Communist Party of India-Marxists state secretary N Varadarajan and Communist Party of India state secretary D Pandian.
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