Why TN is banking on its finance minister with sharp tongue

When P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan questioned the ‘one state, one vote’ principle that governs GST council’s decision-making and issue of compensation to states at a May 28 meeting, it had repercussions in faraway Goa. Transport minister of Goa Mauvin Godinho, who participated in the meeting, sought an apology the next day. Thiagarajan retorted “empty vessels make more noise,” in a statement addressed to the people of Goa. Forthright and defiant, that’s Tamil Nadu’s new finance minister and DMK MLA from Madurai central. In his second term as MLA, Thiagarajan has been making heads turn and has touched a raw nerve among BJP leaders quite a few times. A weapon against the saffron party in the DMK’s armoury.I have travelledMillions of miles on Air & LandTaken ~2,000 flightsEven the Concorde a few timesTo ~60 Countri… https://t.co/Hph4zhW6Uu— Dr P Thiaga Rajan (PTR) (@ptrmadurai) 1622924877000 Sporting a thilak on his forehead, Thiagarajan is not the quintessential DMK leader you can accuse of being an anti-Hindu. He comes from a family that has made liberal offerings to the Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple among others. His grandfather P T Rajan was the chief minister of Madras Presidency in 1936. His father P T R Palanivel Rajan was a DMK minister and later speaker of the Tamil Nadu assembly. “He speaks the truth and talks with data. Political and intellectual decency would have worked with the Congress, not with BJP. When a set of people from an extreme right wing party like the BJP attempts to erode the basic philosophy and ideology of the social fabric of Tamil Nadu, they have to be dealt with in such a way. When an intellectual like him does it, there is a lot of traction,” says Sivarajah Ramanathan, an IT entrepreneur from Madurai. An engineering graduate from NIT, Trichy, followed by higher education in the US including an MBA in finance from Sloan School of Management at MIT, Thiagarajan had a banking career in the US and later in Singapore. He returned to India in 2015 for good and contested the 2016 assembly election and won. He sought the Madurai Central seat from former DMK president M Karunanidhi due to the presence of Meenakshi Amman temple in the segment. Armed with a global worldview, the articulate minister can hit below the belt too. Earlier he had termed a senior BJP leader H Raja as a rabid dog, called BJP’s national women’s wing leader Coimbatore south MLA Vanathi Srinivasan a “congenital liar” and a person with “low IQ” and blocked her and a few others from his Twitter handle. Thiagarajan has also vociferously spoken about the need to retain the state’s control over Hindu temples, even while Hindutva supporters are seeking to pass the control to the devotees.His admirers and fellow legislators from the DMK are a happier lot. “Our leader could not have chosen a better person than PTR and today we have the best finance minister. Extremely versatile, he knows his job well and is committed. With the education he has had, he is involved in ensuring social justice, the basic principles of DMK,” says T R B Rajaa, DMK MLA from Mannargudi and a fellow member in the public accounts committee (2016-2021).“Whenever the PAC chairman (S Durai Murugan) could not be present, PTR used to chair the meetings. During our visits to tribal belts in Yelagiri and Kolli Hills, PTR would sit down on the ground with the tribal students and downtrodden to hear out their problems. PTR breaks all narratives posed against the DMK and that’s why he is the best choice for the job,” says Rajaa.Thiagarajan does score high, when compared to the two finance ministers that Tamil Nadu had over the past decade – O Panneerselvam and D Jayakumar. The latter also had the distinction of representing the state in the GST Council meetings multiple times. Industrialists are happy too. “He has a solid grounding, since he had a successful career in financial markets in the US. With his experience, he has the understanding of the numbers as well as the finances of Tamil Nadu. Before attacking a problem, one has to understand the real issue. He is outspoken and is somebody who puts out his views with conviction and his words are backed with fundamentals. He goes deeper into an issue, understands and analyses it, before making any comment,” says Hari K Thiagarajan, former chairman, CII Tamil Nadu. medium83304039A few others feel Thiagarajan would do well to curb his instincts on social media. “When it comes to subjects like finance and debt, PTR is quite impressive. People do admire that someone of this calibre is heading finance. Politically, he lacks diplomacy. He should know to whom he should respond,” says a political strategist, who did not want to be named. He feels Thiagarajan has to transition from being the IT wing head and DMK functionary to the position he holds now. “He fits the bill to be part of the Union government. That said, MNCs would love him and are sure to make a beeline to Tamil Nadu, since they will be convinced that he speaks their language and will understand their pain points better than any other typical politician,” he says. There are some in the DMK too, who would prefer to see a mellower Thiagarajan. “One need not be combative or lose his cool to drive home a point. Being an economic scholar is one thing and being an economic politician is another. One need not make a political statement everywhere. Diplomacy does help,” says a senior DMK leader.When we took charge & came to Madurai, we struggled to get enough Oxygen as daily cases surged past 1kDecided the… https://t.co/8kQkJokjDB— Dr P Thiaga Rajan (PTR) (@ptrmadurai) 1622822357000 In Tamil there is a saying — even if you want to slipper someone, do it after covering it in a silk cloth. The other guy will gleefully accept. May be in due course, Thiagarajan would master that art too.boxcontentTasks at handFinancial stress on state* Increasing expenditure to handle the Covid crisis * Declining revenue on account of lockdowns to contain Covid spread * TN’s outstanding liability stands at Rs 4.9 lakh crore for the fiscal 2020-21 * High cost of borrowings leading to higher outgo towards interest payments * A tight-rope walk to get state’s share of funds from the Centre, amid pinpricks in the Centre-state relationUntitled Carousel 83117097