Meet Marie Wilson: Jeppiaar Institute MD gets key finance portfolio in Vijay’s Tamil Nadu cabinet

CHENNAI: Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader N Marie Wilson, who pulled off a sweeping victory from Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, has been entrusted with key finance, planning and development portfolios in chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s newly formed cabinet.Marie Wilson is the managing director of Jeppiaar Institute and fought election from RK Nagar seat on a TVK ticket. His victory stood out as one of the most dominant performances in the recently-held elections in the state.As per news agency PTI, Wilson secured 53.97% of the vote in RK Nagar, while the DMK and AIADMK together managed only 41.4%. The DMK secured 26.56% votes, while AIADMK polled 14.8%.Remarkably, Wilson’s margin of victory alone — 27.41% — was larger than the total votes secured by the runner-up candidate.Following the cabinet expansion on Thursday, governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar allocated portfolios to the 23 ministers in the Vijay-led council of ministers.Vijay retained the Home, Police, Municipal Administration and Urban and Water Supply departments, besides Special Initiatives, Poverty Alleviation and Rural Indebtedness.Reacting to his appointment, Marie Wilson thanked both the chief minister and voters of RK Nagar."I would like to thank the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for giving me this opportunity and to the RK Nagar constituency people for voting for me," Wilson told news agency ANI."I am looking forward to the portfolio and working for the people," he added.The new government has also created a dedicated Artificial Intelligence department at the cabinet level, making Tamil Nadu the second state in the country after Kerala to do so.(With agency inputs)