S Keerthana, 29, has become the youngest minister in Tamil Nadu and after swearing in from Chief Minister Vijay's first cabinet on Sunday. Notably, she is the sole female minister in the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government after winning the Sivakasi Assembly constituency, in the 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections.
Who Is S Keerthana?
Hailing from Virudhunagar, the daughter of Sampath rose from a Tamil-medium government school to become a multilingual scholar. She holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Madurai Kamaraj University and an M.Sc. in Statistics from Pondicherry University.
Keerthana worked as a political consultant and digital strategist with Showtime Consulting before she contested as a candidate.
In the past, she played a key role in TDP campaign strategies, working primarily behind the scenes. Keerthana was a key architect of the party's grassroots campaigning and the overarching social media communication framework that defined the campaign.
She garnered public attention during the assembly election campaign for TVK. Beyond her age, Keerthana's multilingual proficiency, particularly her fluency in Hindi, has sparked significant dialogue.
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After her election win, Keerthana has sparked discussion by choosing to speak in Hindi in a state which boasts of its strong regionality. According to her, this is to help her leader's message reach a wider audience. The move stands out in Tamil Nadu, where Hindi has long been a hot-button issue.
In her post-election remarks, Keerthana issued a call for political courage, asserting that "there is no need to be afraid of money and caste."
Keerthana's elevation marks her as both the youngest minister and the sole female representative among the nine inaugural appointees, signalling a strategic shift towards relatively youthful governance under Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay.
In a landmark event for the newly formed Tamil Nadu government, Selvi S. Keerthana officially took the oath of office today as a cabinet minister at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai.
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