Major Rejig in Tamil Nadu Cabinet: Thangam Thennarasu New FM, Rajaa In Charge of Industries

Two years after winning the assembly elections and forming a government after 10 years of AIADMK rule, the DMK government rejigged the Cabinet on Thursday, with Thangam Thennarasu becoming the new minister of finance, planning, human resources management, pensions, statistics and archaeology. The incumbent, PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan, is the new Information Technology minister.

MP Saminathan, minister for information and publicity, will also hold the additional charge of Tamil official language and Tamil culture department.

TRB Rajaa, 46, a three-time DMK MLA representing Mannargudi constituency in the Tamil Nadu assembly, was sworn in as minister by Governor RN Ravi at a function in Raj Bhavan in the presence of chief minister MK Stalin and his Cabinet colleagues on Thursday. Rajaa is the new industries minister, henceforth held by Thennarasu.

While Rajaa has been included in the cabinet, Avadi DMK MLA SM Nasar, who was the milk and dairy minister, was dropped from the cabinet. In his place, IT minister Mano Thangaraj has been named the new milk and dairy minister.

Rajaa, son of Sriperumbudur DMK MP TR Baalu, holds a PhD in Psychology and is also the party’s IT wing chief. Rajaa is also a member of the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission and chairman of the Legislative Committee on Estimates. Raja joins Udayanidhi Stalin and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi as the party’s youth trio in the cabinet.

The changes in the Cabinet were in the air following a controversy involving Thiagarajan. A series of audio tapes, allegedly of Thiagarajan’s voice, were circulating in social media, making wild allegations against the chief minister and his family members. Though Thiagarajan denied that the voice was his, BJP state chief K Annamalai refused to agree and continued to release more such audio tapes.

Though the chief minister condemned Annamalai and stood by Thiagarajan, he has been shifted from the finance department. He presented three budgets (Revised budget 2021, 2022 and 2023) and brought down the revenue and fiscal deficit, and made the state’s financial situation better.

Rajaa takes charge of the industries department at a time when the government is trying hard to woo more and more industries. “I will work along Stalin and strengthen his hands,” Raja told the media before the swearing-in.

CM Stalin will visit four countries from May 23 to woo investors, and also invite big companies to the Global Investors’ Meeting to be held in January 2024.

Nasar was in the news for all the wrong reasons in the last two years. A video was in circulation early this year, showing Nasar throwing stones at party workers in Tiruvallur — a move criticised by the Opposition parties. There were also allegations that there was an acute shortage of milk, and dairy products such as butter, which was not available in the market even now.