Who is in, who is sacked: Speculations swirl over Tamil Nadu Cabinet rejig ahead of Lok Sabha poll results

CHENNAI: Speculations of a minor shake up in the state Cabinet are doing the rounds on the corridors of power in the state even as the country witnessed dormant response at the hustings so far in the seven-phase Parliamentary polls.

If information trickling out of the state Secretariat are something to go by, at least a couple of Ministers are in the firing line. The likely rejig in the Cabinet is understood to have been motivated by the report of the electioneering work of Ministers in-charge of the various Parliamentary constituencies besides health factors.

DMK sources privy to the discussions happening at the party helm disclosed that state Minister of Handloom and Textiles R Gandhi and incumbent Revenue Minister KKSSR Ramachandran could be shown the door owing to performance and health considerations, respectively.

Likewise, pressure is on even influential DMK general secretary Duraimurugan to divest one of his portfolios. Facing flak from the opposition over the sand quarrying issue which has drawn the attention of the even the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the DMK first family is understood to be considering divestment of mines and minerals portfolio from the Leader of the House, who is hell bent not to part ways the resourceful portfolio. Supporters of Duraimurugan admitted that the old timer was not averse to sacrificing the water resources portfolio he is an expert in, but he would not be favourably disposed to giving up the mines portfolio should a situation arise to divest him off one of the portfolios.

Speculation is rife that the DMK high command was considering a rehabilitation for incumbent IT Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan who was divested off the finance portfolio over a year ago after a fall out with the first family allegedly over leaked audio tapes supposedly attributed to him. Party sources with knowledge of the discussions revealed that the DMK high command was pondering over rehabilitating PTR by elevating him to the Union Cabinet with a resourceful portfolio like finance in the event of the INDIA bloc forming the government.

The surprise MLAs names doing the rounds for elevation and inclusion in the Cabinet include MLA ‘Panamarathupatty’ Rajendran from Salem, the lone DMK MLA from the native district of Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami.