Chennai: Dr P. Thiaga Rajan (PTR) is no longer finance minister of Tamil Nadu. In a cabinet reshuffle announced Thursday, PTR has been allocated the information technology and digital services portfolio instead — a move political observers are terming a ‘big demotion’.
Thangam Thenarasu, who was industries minister earlier, has been appointed the minister for finance and human resources management in his place. Thenarasu will also oversee the pension, economics and statistics and archeology departments.
As announced on 9 May, three-time Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) legislator Dr T.R.B. Rajaa — the son of party treasurer and MP T.R. Baalu — was inducted into the state cabinet and given the industries portfolio.
Minister for information and publicity, M.P. Saminathan, has been given Tamil development as an additional portfolio. And Mano Thangaraj, who was earlier minister for IT and digital services, has been appointed minister for milk and dairy development.
The milk and dairy development portfolio was earlier held by DMK MLA S.M. Nasar, who was dropped from the cabinet on 9 May.
The Raj Bhavan, which issued the updated list of cabinet portfolios Thursday, said the Governor had approved the changes on the recommendation of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
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Demotion for PTR?
Reacting to the reshuffle, PTR took to Twitter to say that the last two years had been the “the most fulfilling” in his life and that “despite inheriting record deficits and debt ratios, we (state government) have invested in a record number of social welfare schemes as well as record capital spending, all while delivering record-setting fiscal improvements”.
“This is the epitome of my public service, and indeed of my life,” he added.
PTR also thanked CM Stalin for the opportunity to serve in the cabinet, while adding that he plans to “build on the great efforts of my predecessor Mani Thangaraj to attract more investments, accelerate job-creation, and deliver growth at a pace that will re-establish Tamil Nadu as a leading state in IT”.
He also said that he hoped his experience in “establishing and managing a pioneering Global Capability Centre 15 years ago” and connections in the IT and ITES (Information-Technology Enabled Services) gained during his career as an investment banker, would enrich his efforts in his new role.
The reshuffle comes close on the heels of the Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) releasing two audio clips purportedly of PTR being critical of the DMK and its first family.
While PTR dismissed the two audio clips as “fabricated”, CM Stalin reacted to the audio clips by saying that he didn’t want to “publicise those indulging in cheap politics” — an apparent dig at state BJP chief K. Annamalai.
Asked what the reshuffle meant for PTR, political analyst Sumanth C. Raman told ThePrint, “Change in PTR’s portfolio was expected but not so soon. Now, this will be connected directly to the audio files.”
“This is a big demotion for him (PTR),” Sumanth added.
According to political analyst G.C. Shekhar, PTR’s clean image is why the claim that he can be heard in the purported audio clips as saying that Stalin’s son Udayanidhi and son-in-law V. Sabareesan are controlling the party, “gave greater credibility to what Annamalai has been saying”.
Udayanidhi, the minister for youth welfare and sports development, sent a legal notice last month to Annamalai, seeking Rs 50 crore in damages over the purported audio clips — dubbed ‘DMK Files’.
Reacting to the cabinet reshuffle, BJP state vice president Narayanan Thirupathy said in a tweet Thursday that if CM Stalin “did not accept” that PTR was “incompetent in handling the finance portfolio, then it is obvious that he was shifted for the audio leaks”.
“If he accepts so, then he has to apologise for appointing an incompetent person to manage the state’s finances,” Thirupathy added.
Thangam Thenarasu — new finance minister
Taking over the finance portfolio from PTR is five-time MLA Thangam Thenarasu, who Sumanth said, “did a good job as the industries minister in Stalin’s cabinet so far”.
Thenarasu was the school education minister in DMK patriarch late M. Karunanidhi’s government (2006-11). He represents the Tiruchuli constituency in Virudhunagar district and is the son of two-time MLA V Thangapandian, who was minister for cooperation in Karunanidhi’s cabinet (1996). His sister Thamizhachi Thangapandian is DMK Lok Sabha MP from the South Chennai constituency.
Meanwhile, commenting on Rajaa’s induction into the cabinet, Sumanth termed it a “big elevation for a first-time minister”.
Mano Thangaraj, who has been allocated the milk and dairy development portfolio, played a key role in revamping the state’s startup infrastructure with the Startup TN initiative and the Umagine Chennai platform. He also oversaw the ideation of iTNT Hub, which is India’s first emerging and deep tech innovation network.
As for Nasar’s exit from CM Stalin’s cabinet, political analysts attribute it to the workers’ issue that has caused disruption in Aavin milk production.
Earlier this year, Nasar was also embroiled in two controversies. In the first, he was caught on camera hurling a stone at a DMK worker purportedly over delay in bringing him a chair, while in the other, he was photographed shoving a DMK functionary on the stage during an event following Udayanidhi’s elevation as minister.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)