Tamil Nadu Reshuffle: Thangam Thennarusu New Finance Minister, PTR Moved To IT — Check Details

Tamil Nadu Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan relieved of Finance portfolio and given information technology and digital services in the fresh reshuffle in the MK Stalin cabinet.

File photo of Tamil Nadu Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, also known as PTR, who was recently embroiled in a controversy over a purported audio clip attributed to him.

Source : Twitter/@ptrmadurai

Tamil Nadu Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was on Thursday relieved of the Finance portfolio and given information technology and digital services in the fresh reshuffle in the MK Stalin cabinet. Thangam Thennarasu will take over the Finance, Planning, and Human Resources Management portfolio in place of Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. This is the second reshuffle of the Stalin-led cabinet that assumed office in 2021.

Cabinet shuffle in Tamil Nadu- Changes made to portfolios of five ministers pic.twitter.com/YqDKpg1g6j

— ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2023

Tamil Nadu Dairy Development Minister S M Nasar has been dropped from the MK Stalin-led cabinet and TRB Rajaa has been included in the council of ministers as Minister of Industries. Raja is DMK IT Wing chief and is the son of senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP TR Baalu. Raja was sworn in as Minister of the Tamil Nadu cabinet at Raj Bhawan today.

Meanwhile, M.P. Saminathan has been made Minister for Tamil Development, Information & Publicity.

This list comes after Governor R N Ravi accepted CM Stalin's recommendations.

The Governor approved the Chief Minister's recommendation to drop SM Nasar, Minister for Milk and Dairy Development from the Council of Ministers. Nasar was 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. Rajaa is the son of senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP TR Baalu. The MLA will be sworn-in as minister on May 11, the Raj Bhavan added. 

Meanwhile, reacting to the reshuffle of T Mano. Thangaraj on getting Milk & Dairy development portfolio said: "I am happy to get this portfolio. I will do my best."

Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, also known as PTR, responded to the development 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." 

The past two years have been the most fulfilling in my life. Under the leadership of CM @mkstalin, I presented one revised budget (’21 - ’22) during the pandemic, and two annual budgets (’22 – ’23, ’23 – ’24) post-pandemic. Despite inheriting record deficits and debt ratios, we…

— Dr P Thiaga Rajan (PTR) (@ptrmadurai) May 11, 2023

Row Over PTR's Purported Audio Clip

Notably, PTR has been moved away from the finance portfolio after a purported audio clip attributed to him sparked fresh controversy in Tamil Nadu. 

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Syed Zafar claimed 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.”

V Sabareesan has set up two companies in the UK and these so-called companies are nothing but the means of illegally routing the ill-gotten wealth, he alleged.

Syed Zafar further claimed, “This is unprecedented that they have made this kind of money in a year, all this has been looted from the common man. The money which was supposed to be spent on the common man has been looted by the Tamil Nadu chief minister and a few of his trusted friends.” 

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 truth can be ascertained.