Suspense continues on Ministers’ portfolios

CHENNAI: A day ahead of the scheduled swearing-in ceremony of minister-designate TRB Rajaa at Raj Bhavan, suspense shrouded the state Secretariat over the likely changes in portfolios of a few key Ministers. The buzz in Fort St George corridors on Wednesday was that the portfolios of five Ministers could be changed during Thursday’s formal reshuffle.

Highly placed government sources disclosed that incumbent Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan aka PTR could be replaced with Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasau, as was speculated in the media circles for a few days now. However, the high profile Minister could be in for a disappointment if he expects a direct swapping of the portfolio with seasoned Thennarasu as the DMK top brass is in no mood to give the coveted industries portfolio to PTR.

If sources in the government are to be believed, the government hopes to do the balancing act by accommodating him in the relatively small Information Technology portfolio. Incumbent IT Minister Mano Thangaraj is expected to step into the shoes of outgoing SM Nasar in the Dairy Development Ministry. As things stand now, newcomer TRB Rajaa could be entrusted with the Industries Department. Curiously, the rumour mills did not stop there. The word on the corridors of power on Wednesday was that Chief Minister MK Stalin could snatch the mines portfolio from senior Minister Duraimurugan and hand it over to Thangam Thennarasu too.

Information trickling out of DMK headquarters as of now suggest that incumbent Adi Dravidar Welfare Minister Kayalvizhi Selvaraj, who was on the line of the fire for a while now, had weathered the storm in this episode of shake up in the state Cabinet.