An outsider inside: Is this beginning of the end or a new start for 'PTR'?

When CM M K Stalin reshuffled the Cabinet last week, moving Palanivel Thiaga Rajan to the relatively less-important portfolio of information technology (IT), many eyebrows went up

Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (pictured) was largely considered one of the best finance ministers in Tamil Nadu’s recent history. It wasn’t simply his credentials (engineering and business degrees from prestigious universities in India and the US, including the Sloan School of Business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001) that drew attention to him, but also his practical experience.

PTR (as he is colloquially known) had attempted to turn around the state’s finances in the two years since the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government took office in 2021.

He has a background in investment banking at Lehman Brothers and as senior managing