With the TVK Cabinet boasting eight Ministers from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, the AIADMK, the DMK and the PMK also claimed credit for empowering SCs.

Reiterating the impressive representation of SCs in Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s Cabinet, Minister for Public Works Aadhav Arjuna appealed to parties to drop the term Thazhthapatta makkal (downtrodden people) and consider using a more neutral term — Scheduled Castes.

During the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor for his address to the Assembly, the AIADMK’s Harur MLA, V. Sampathkumar, spoke about how AIADMK governments in the past had ensured that SCs were given prominent roles, including that of the Speaker.

The PMK’s Gingee MLA, A. Ganeshkumar, said that 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 to the increased representation of SCs in the last Cabinet.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami also chipped in by saying that the late AIADMK leader, M.G. Ramachandran, had removed caste-based names in public places, especially on streets and roads.

AIADMK MLA Sampathkumar urged the State government to consider establishing Harur as a new district.

Finance Minister invokes Bible to make a point on CM Vijay

State Finance Minister Maria Wilson on Friday said in the floor of the Assembly that “Tamil Nadu has a new Joseph” just as the “Old and the New Testament have their own Joseph”.

When AIADMK MLA Sampathkumar, who sought to know why the “White Paper” on Tamil Nadu’s finances was not presented 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 has to be appreciated.

Finance Minister Wilson further said that Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay wants to provide a “transparent and corruption free” government.