One of the DMK’s most popular faces on national television, Tamil Nadu finance minister Palanivel Thiagarajan, has been moved from the finance department.

In a cabinet reshuffle on Thursday, Thiagarajan — or PTR as he’s better known — and three of his colleagues in the DMK were assigned new state ministries. PTR will now take charge as Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Information Technology.

Meanwhile, incumbent minister of industries, Thangam Thennarasu, is the state’s new finance minister. Thennarasu has notched up a stellar track record in the last two years and is credited with netting recent big-ticket investments from firms like Mitsubishi Electric, Cisco and Hyundai.

In fact, on the day of the reshuffle, Hyundai announced a mammoth 20,000-crore-rupee investment in its Chennai plant, with a focus on capacity expansion, battery-pack assembly and EV production.

DMK IT Wing chief and son of party MP TR Baalu, TRB Rajaa, has made his debut in the Tamil Nadu cabinet. Rajaa has been given charge of the Industries Department, where the MLA from Mannargudi takes over as Minister of Industries.

While Thennarasu assuming charge as Finance Minister is being seen as a promotion for good work, Thiagarajan’s new role as IT minister has left many divided over its reasoning.

After all, he has been widely regarded as the man responsible for shrinking Tamil Nadu’s soaring fiscal and revenue deficits. In 2021, the state revenue deficit stood at Rs 62,000 crore, only to reduce to Rs 32,000 crore in March, while focusing on social spending in the state.

“The past two years have been the most fulfilling of my life,” said Thiagarajan in a tweet. “Despite inheriting record deficits and debt ratios, we have invested in a record number of social welfare schemes as well as record capital spending, all while delivering record-setting fiscal improvements,” he added.

Thiagarajan found himself in the eye of a storm a few weeks ago, when the Tamil Nadu BJP released an audio tape of what they claimed was his voice heard to be making claims of corruption against the chief minister’s son and son-in-law. Thiagarajan has since dismissed the tapes as fabricated and a deep-fake. He also released a video statement later where he reiterated his loyalty to the party.

Some analysts believe that the controversy surrounding Thiagarajan may have played a role in his exiting the state finance department. However, some others claim that the re-shuffle was decided a good month before the tape in question was released.

As Thiagarajan will now assume charge as IT minister, incumbent IT minister Mano Thangaraj has been given charge of the Dairy and Animal Husbandry department.