As part of a reshuffle in the state cabinet, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday divested senior minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan of the finance portfolio and moved him to information technology and digital services.
This comes in the wake of the controversial leaked audio tapes, purportedly of the DMK leader, that he and other party leaders have denounced.
The clips were leaked by a Chennai-based whistleblower and BJP state unit president K Annamalai and hinted at corruption within Chief Minister MK Stalin's family. While Rajan subsequently issued a statement calling the audio fake and artificially created, speculations were rife about the possibility of his portfolio being downgraded.
Supporters of Thiaga Rajan, also known as PTR, had come out in his defence and posted in his support, using the hashtag ‘#StandwithPTR'.
Days after the audio leak, the income tax department raided G-Square, a real estate company with alleged links to the Stalin family.
While Thiaga Rajan continues in the cabinet, Thangam Thennarasu, who was the Minister for Industries, has been made the Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management. The Industries portfolio has been allocated to the newly inducted TRB Raaja.
Thiaga Rajan posted a tweet soon after the change in portfolios was announced. He thanked the state chief minister for the opportunities and welcomed the new finance minister.
He mentioned his work as the finance minister of Tamil Nadu and said that despite inheriting record deficits and debt ratios, the state invested in a record number of social welfare schemes as well as record capital spending, all while delivering record-setting fiscal improvements.
He said he will enrich the new role with his own experience in establishing and managing a pioneering global capability centre during his professional career.
Among other big changes in the Tamil Nadu cabinet, Mano Thangaraj, who served as the Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services, will now be the Minister for Milk and Dairy Development. Meanwhile, SM Nasar, who handled the dairy development portfolio, has been dropped from the cabinet.
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