Stalin to induct T R Baalu’s son in cabinet, relieves dairy minister

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday dropped Dairy Development S M Naser from the Council of Minister and filled the vacancy created by his ouster by inducting DMK IT wing head and three-time MLA T R B Raaja.

This is the first time that Stalin has dropped a minister from his cabinet after he assumed office in May 2021. Naser, the legislator from Avadi constituency on the outskirts of Chennai, was one of the two Muslim faces of the Stalin cabinet after K S Masthan, who holds the Minorities Welfare portfolio.

Raaja, son of DMK veteran and former Union minister T R B Baalu, will be sworn-in as a minister at 10.30 am on May 11 at the Raj Bhavan, the Governor’s Secretariat said in a statement, amid speculation of a rejig of portfolios among ministers.

Naser’s exit was expected for some time with the Chief Minister being unhappy with his performance in the Dairy Development department. Sources also said there were a lot of complaints against Naser and his son from partymen as well which led to his ouster.

The inclusion of Raaja, MLA from Mannargudi, was in the pipeline for some time as people in the Cauvery Delta region were demanding a minister from their area. However, Stalin was trying to placate them saying he too was from the Delta region.

Raaja had been expecting a Cabinet berth citing his seniority since the government came to power, but he was overlooked in 2021 and was appointed as a member of the State Planning Commission. Months later, he was named as the head of DMK’s IT wing after P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan quit citing his preoccupation as Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu.

The minister-designate is yet to be allotted a subject as speculation mounts over a possible rejig of the portfolios. The speculation gained credence after purported audio clips of Thiaga Rajan allegedly criticising the DMK’s functioning went viral on social media.

Thiaga Rajan called the audio clips “fabricated”, while Stalin himself suggested he had accepted his cabinet colleague’s explanation. However, it remains to be seen whether there is a reshuffle of portfolios among ministers.