Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin conducted a cabinet reshuffle on Thursday, which saw Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan being relieved of the Finance portfolio and being given Information Technology and Digital Services instead. The Finance, Planning, and Human Resources Management portfolio will now be taken over by Thangam Thennarasu. This is the second reshuffle of the Stalin-led cabinet since it assumed office in 2021.
In addition to this, Tamil Nadu Dairy Development Minister S M Nasar has been dropped from the council of ministers, and TRB Rajaa has been included in the cabinet as Minister of Industries. Rajaa is DMK IT Wing Chief and the son of senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP TR Baalu. Rajaa was sworn in as Minister of the Tamil Nadu cabinet at Raj Bhawan on Thursday. Meanwhile, M.P. Swaminathan has been made Minister for Tamil Development, Information & Publicity.
The Governor of Tamil Nadu, R N Ravi, accepted CM Stalin’s recommendations for the reshuffle. The Governor approved the Chief Minister’s recommendation to drop SM Nasar from the Council of Ministers. Nasar had been in the news a few months ago for allegedly hurling a stone at a party worker over some issue, a video of which had gone viral, drawing flak from various quarters.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, also known as PTR, responded to the development by saying, “I am grateful that CM M K Stalin has now assigned me the portfolio of Information Technology – globally the #1 industry for investment and job-creation today. We know that technology shapes the future.” Notably, PTR has been moved away from the finance portfolio after a purported audio clip attributed to him sparked fresh controversy in Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Syed Zafar alleged that Chief Minister MK Stalin’s son-in-law Sabareesan and his son Udhayanidhi Stalin made Rs 30,000 crores in a year, and all of this was looted from the common people. According to news agency ANI, BJP’s Syed Zafar Islam said, “When the Finance Minister (PTR) of Stalin talked to a journalist he revealed that Stalin’s son-in-law Sabareesan and his son Udhayanidhi Stalin made Rs. 30,000 crores in one year. And their main concern is how and where to hide the money.”
Tamil Nadu BJP leaders met Governor RN Ravi “seeking an independent forensic audit on the audio file of State Finance Minister P Thiaga Rajan exposing the ill-gotten money amounting to Rs 30,000 crores through corrupt means by CM MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin and son-in-law Sabareesan.” In an official release, the Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai asked the then-finance minister to record his audio clip so that the truth could be ascertained.