19 TVK, two Congress MLAs to be sworn in on Thursday

CHENNAI: As many as 19 MLAs from TVK and two Congress legislators — S Rajesh Kumar and P Viswanathan — are set to be sworn in as ministers on Thursday by governor R V Arlekar at Lok Bhavan.The expansion comes 12 days after chief minister C Joseph Vijay and nine ministers were sworn in on May 10. Nearly half of the 43 departments in the state have so far functioned without ministers, delaying decisions in several departments and drawing criticism from opposition parties.Among those shortlisted for induction are Salem South MLA Tamil Parthiban, Aranthangi MLA J Mohammed Farvas alias Parvez, Coimbatore North MLA V Sampath Kumar, Kancheepuram MLA RV Ranjith Kumar, Tambaram MLA D Sarath Kumar, Tirupur North MLA V Sathyabama, and R K Nagar MLA Marie Wilson. TVK is also considering younger legislators in the 30-40 age group.