DMK’s district in-charge ministers slog it fearing action, say sources
The ministers whose districts were changed in the first week of October following a minor reshuffle in the state cabinet have been touring their districts periodically since then to ensure that they do not suffer the criticism they had faced in their erstwhile districts.
Anna Arivalayam
CHENNAI: Ministers of the ruling DMK who were appointed in charge of various districts early last month are slogging it out to impress Chief Minister MK Stalin, party sources said.
Though monitoring the implementation of government schemes and expediting project execution is the key objective of the appointment of ministers in charge, the political purpose is to earn public goodwill and brighten the chances of the party in the next Assembly polls, a senior DMK leader said. “The CMO and the party closely monitor the performance of the ministers in the respective districts. Their job is to keep the house in order and address the concerns of the people. Those ministers failing in their duty will be held accountable in the way the high command deems fit. So, the ministers are doubly careful after last month's reorganisation of duties," said a DMK senior, unwilling to be quoted.
The ministers whose districts were changed in the first week of October following a minor reshuffle in the state cabinet have been touring their districts periodically since then to ensure that they do not suffer the criticism they had faced in their erstwhile districts.
Following a minor reshuffle in the State cabinet last month during which Govi Chezhiaan and Rajendran were provided Cabinet berths and a few ex-ministers were re-inducted, Stalin reorganised the ministerial supervision of districts which didn’t have ministerial representation. Accordingly, V Senthilbalaji was appointed in charge of Coimbatore again, while Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and Information Minister MP Saminathan were appointed in charge of Nilgiris and Kanniyakumari, respectively, after the sacking of local ministers Mano Thangaraj and K Ramachandran from the Cabinet.
Likewise, municipal administration minister K N Nehru was moved to Tirunelveli from Salem district as in charge after Rajendran of Salem was inducted into the Cabinet. Another reason for Nehru's 'transfer' was the frequent ugly internal bickerings in Tirunelveli, which faced so much so a no-confidence motion against the city mayor by the ruling party's own councillors during the stint of Thennarasu as minister in charge. Municipal Administration minister Nehru was moved to Tirunelveli to effectively handle the internal bickerings, most of which erupted out of the internal politics of the civic body. Having learnt his lessons from the erstwhile in-charge district, a well-informed but soft-mannered Thennarasu was stated to have got his act together in quelling rebellion in Kanniyakumari.
Also, state School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi was moved from Thanjavur, which received its own minister Chezhiaan. Anbil was made in charge of Nagapattinam. Even on Saturday, minister Anbil Mahes had to get into damage control mode after ally MLA 'Nagai' Maali of CPM publicly flagged official neglect at government functions, so much so that the minister had to console the unhappy Marxist legislature party leader. In the same vein, minister Saminathan has been busy touring Nilgiris to oversee the delivery of government schemes and trumpet the DMK's achievements for the 2026 Assembly polls.
Resourceful highway minister E V Velu has already toured Tirupattur and Kallakurichi to keep the party affairs in order and drum up public support for the government there. Minister for Handlooms and Textiles R Gandhi, who narrowly escaped the axe during the cabinet reshuffle, and Environment Minister Siva Meiyyanathan have also been spotted in Kancheepuram and Mayiladuthurai to improve the outlook of their report card.
