Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

P.U. Shanmugam passes away

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: P.U. Shanmugam, a senior member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and four-time Minister, died here on Wednesday after a prolonged illness. He was 82.

Born in Tiruvannamalai in August 1924, Mr. Shanmugam became the chairman of the Tiruvannamalai municipal council at 23. He had held the post for five years.

In 1957, when the DMK made its electoral debut, Mr. Shanmugam was one of the 15 members of the party who had made it to the Assembly. He was a member of the Assembly from Tiruvannamalai in the then North Arcot district for three terms — 1957-62, 1963-67 and 1971-76. He was also a member of the legislative council during 1968-71 and again in early 1980s.

When Mr. Karunanidhi became Chief Minister in 1969, Mr. Shanmugam was inducted into the Cabinet and given the portfolios of Labour and Registration. Subsequently, he handled the subjects of Food and Public Works Department.

A year after the DMK was defeated in the 1977 Assembly elections, he joined the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. In July 1980, he became the party general secretary. In 1984, he was elected from Melamalaiyanur in the erstwhile South Arcot district on the AIADMK ticket. He was again made Minister and had handled the portfolios of Local Administration and Health.

After the death of M.G. Ramachandran, Mr. Shanmugam was part of the AIADMK ministry headed by Janaki Ramachandran.

In October 1989, he joined the unified AIADMK led by Jayalalithaa. Four months later and after a gap of 12 years, he returned to the DMK.

Mr. Shanmugam was in the thick some controversies. In April 1975, the then DMK government appointed a commission of inquiry to go into the charge of his involvement in the "rice export scandal of 1971." Four months later, the probe panel exonerated him. He, along with DMK president Mr. Karunanidhi and several others, was charged in a case of violence when Indira Gandhi visited the State in October 1977.

Ten years later, 63 persons, including Mr. Karunanidhi and Mr. Shanmugam, were acquitted.

Two-minute

silence observed

The Assembly condoled the death of the former minister by observing a two-minute silence after Speaker R. Auvadiappan made an obituary reference.

Mr. Karunanidhi visited the house of Mr. Shanmugam on Thursday and paid floral tributes. S. Thirunavvukkarasar, national secretary of the Bhartiya Janata Party and who was also a minister in the AIADMK ministry in the mid-1980s, condoled the death of the former minister.

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