DMK, the ruling party of Tamil Nadu, has appointed senior leader TRB Rajaa as its IT wing secretary. Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan earlier served as DMK’s IT wing secretary. Upon his resignation, the party appointed TRB Rajaa. 

The party made an official announcement on Sunday, January 18 with a statement reading, “The party leader (Chief Minister MK Stalin) accepted Finance Minister PT Palanivel Thiagarajan's letter to get relieved from his post of party's (DMK) IT wing secretary as he needs to focus on govt duties. The leader accepts his letter and has decided to relieve him from the duties of IT secretary. TRB Rajaa is appointed instead of him”. 

According to reports, Finance Minister PTR who was also heading the IT wing had to devote more attention and time to the finance department. A source from the party told Times of India that the finance department and the GST Council meetings were taking up a lot of PTR’s time. In addition to this, the GST follow-up meetings too were there. Due to this, last week, PTR had reportedly stated to the party leadership that he wished to give up the party post. The leadership too, agreed to the decision.

The DMK’s IT wing was founded in 2017. The party had handed over the IT wing responsibility to PTR, who was the first IT wing secretary. PTR was then a one-time MLA from Madurai (Central), and a former banker. Subsequently, the IT wing grew to become a recognised arm of DMK. Due to PTR’s preoccupation with the new position and responsibilities attached to it, the party, after a review, decided to hand over the position to three-time MLA from Mannargudi TRB Rajaa. Rajaa is also the son of senior DMK leader TR Baalu.