As the long-rumoured cabinet reshuffle finally took place on Thursday, Tamil Nadu’s high-profile finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was shifted to the important but less powerful IT department. Replacing PTR, as he is popularly known, is Thangam Thennarasu, who had held the Industries portfolio. Although PTR appeared to take the change in his stride, his supporters and fans on social media were aghast. PTR’s vehement articulation of the Dravidian ideology and felicity in rendering finance comprehensible to the layperson have endeared him to many, including the youth and opinion-makers. As a minister, he succeeded in halving TN’s revenue deficit, bringing it down by Rs 30,000 crore in just two years. His streamlining tender processes and recruitment has also been significant.
However, he has been in the eye of a storm recently after audio clips were leaked purportedly of him commenting on alleged corruption in the government and party. PTR termed the clips fake and malicious, reiterating his support to the DMK’s first family. Insiders, however, claim the change in his portfolio was in the offing even before the clips came out and suggested other factors were at play, including complaints from his cabinet colleagues on his style of functioning. Nonetheless, the timing of the reshuffle leaves the party and government open to criticism that the audio clips are real and PTR has been “punished”.
His successor, however, is as much a performer as PTR, albeit more seasoned. A five-time MLA, Thennarasu deftly handled the Industries department and, in fact, leaves on a high with investments from CISCO and Hyundai just coming through. In the 2006–11 DMK regime, he handled the School Education department and is credited with implementing the Samacheer Kalvi (equal education) syllabus in the state’s schools. Taking over from Thennarasu is a young leader, the three-time MLA from Mannargudi T R B Rajaa, who is also the party’s IT wing secretary. Handing such a plum post to a first-time minister has raised some eyebrows. Rajaa, like PTR and Thennarasu, hails from a DMK family, his father being party treasurer and MP T R Baalu. Mano Thangaraj, who had held the IT portfolio and done well, will now take charge of the dairy development department, the minister for which was dropped from the cabinet days ago.