The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : State Ministers being subjected to quarterly review

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

State Ministers being subjected to quarterly review

R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Ministers are being subjected to quarterly review by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to ensure that planned development schemes are being implemented on schedule.

When a Minister is given an additional responsibility, it merely means he/she will be asked more questions. “When I gave [M.R.K.] Paneerselvam the Health portfolio [recently after he removed K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran], I told him that he is on notice,” Mr. Karunanidhi told The Hindu.

Mr. Paneerselvam’s handling of a few sensitive issues had come in for favourable notice in the State, and the Chief Minister believes he can do more.

The Ministers are also being monitored regularly. At the beginning of each week, each Minister’s office receives a polite phone call from the Chief Minister’s office.

The conversation is short and limited to an enquiry about the whereabouts of the Minister. If the Minister is in town and in office attending to his/her work, the enquiry ends there.

The caller — on behalf of the Chief Minister — can be anyone from the Chief Minister himself or even the person attending phone calls at his residence.

Early risers

Ministers in the DMK Cabinet are early risers. There is no choice because the Chief Minister wakes up at 4 a.m. and reads most newspapers, beginning with party organ Murasoli by 6 a.m.

“If there is a call around 6 a.m., you can be sure who it is. It cannot be anyone other than the Chief Minister,” said a Minister. This call is usually about some news item, usually an adverse one on the department the Minister handles. If the Minister is on top of the issue and has a reply ready, he will get away with a rap on his knuckles. If the Minister is not fully aware of the issue, he has to summon all his resources and give an explanation to the Chief Minister’s satisfaction.

Informal consent

Going out of the headquarters, Chennai, needs the informal consent of the Chief Minister’s Office. Again, details of the trip are not sought but given. And going home means taking ‘leave’. This has to be sanctioned by the Chief Minister and is usually confined to a few days.

The concept of a holiday in a leisure destination is virtually non-existent for a DMK Minister.

It is very common for a Minister to be at one end of the State in the morning and at another in the evening. For instance, School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu was in the largest panchayat union in his constituency, Kariapatti, on Tuesday morning, overseeing a rural job fair.

He rushed back to be in time that evening to attend a function where Mr. Karunanidhi launched 85 books at Kalaivanar Arangam. The same night, he left for Madurai where he had a meeting scheduled the next morning.

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