An articulate defender of the Dravidian ideology with a political legacy, Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan (PTR), on Monday, lamented in the assembly that his Department was not getting the prominence it requires and the necessary budgetary allocation.
In an unusual development, the MIT educated banker and former Finance Minister, known for calling a spade a spade, used the opportunity of responding to a member’s query on an IT park in Gudalur in The Nilgiris to do some plain speak and express his angst at being sidelined.
Advertisement
“My department is not getting enough budgetary allocation and what we get is very little. Unlike in other states, only a fraction of the IT Parks comes under my Department. TIDEL Parks and Neo TIDEL Parks are under the control of the Industry Department and this unfortunate state of affairs continues for over two decades in Tamil Nadu. Hence, only those who have the finances, talent and power could favourably consider your request. We don’t have that,” he said, answering Pon Jayaseelan of AIADMK.
Rattled by the minister’s not-so-veiled criticism of the government, Speaker M Appavu intervened and asked Thiagarajan to resolve issues pertaining the ministry with the chief minister instead of opening up in the Assembly. “Kindly resolve the matter regarding your department by taking it up with the chief minister, rather than being negative in your response,” the Speaker said.
The release of audio clips, in which PTR is purportedly heard alleging that the son (Udhayanidhi) and son-in law (Sabareesan) of Chief Minister MK Stalin, had amassed more money than what late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi could muster in three decades, had landed him in a soup.
The audio tapes were released in May 2023 by former BJP state president K Annamalai to corner the DMK. Later, PTR was shunted out of the Finance portfolio and entrusted with the IT and Digital Services Department. While his grandfather PT Rajan was briefly Premier of the Madras Presidency his father Palanivel Rajan was a minister in the then Karunanidhi cabinet.
