Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, who was appointed as the secretary of the DMK’s IT wing is said to have resigned from the post, Junior Vikatan has reported.
PTR (as he is popularly called) who indulges in cyber-bullying and slandering people with whom he doesn’t agree with, was instrumental in setting up the troll army of the party to unleash propaganda.
However, post becoming the Finance Minister of the state, there is dissatisfaction within the party leadership as PTR is not able to focus on the IT wing. In this context, PTR is reported to have resigned from his party post.
Some of the second tier leaders of the DMK were quoted saying in the report, “The party leadership is unhappy as DMK’s performance on social media has reduced. The IT team does not give appropriate answers to the allegations and charges places by the Opposition parties on social media. For example, the AIADMK has been saying for 6 months now that DMK has not given the Pongal gift and ₹1000 aid to families, as promised in our manifesto. The DMK IT wing should have appropriately retaliated for this. But, no response was given with such vigour. The speed and energy that was there last year is missing now. Officials have been appointed in every government department to investigate and report to the government on the allegations coming up on social media. They have to send their report to the Chief Minister’s office every week. The Chief Minister’s office is monitoring social media meticulously. In such a situation, the party leaders are not happy that the IT wing has not acted diligently in responding to the opposition’s campaign and allegations.”
A few days ago, the party leadership has spoken to IT wing Secretary PTR about this issue. “The workload as a Finance Minister is ample. The AIADMK has ruined the financial positions of Tamil Nadu. That needs to fixed. Two months ago itself I have informed that I am not able to focus party work. If there is a qualified person, please hire him to work in my place,” PTR reportedly said. He has also reportedly written a letter of resignation to his party leadership and left. No decision has been taken upon that letter till date.
Although PTR has said that his reason for resignation is inability to focus party work, people close to him say that he also had some personal reasons. Junior Vikatan, quoting executives from the DMK IT wing said that PTR has been saddened by the appointment of writer Manushyaputhiran as an advisor to the IT wing. PTR apparently felt it as an insult as no other team other than the IT wing had an advisor appointed to it. He had collected all the statistics required for the 2021 Assembly elections. However, the DMK brought in Prashant Kishore as an advisor. PTR is said to be upset about that too.
Around the time PTR took over as Finance Minister, Mahendran left Makkal Needhi Maiam and joined DMK. He was appointed as the Joint Secretary of the Information Technology team. The party leadership gave Mahendran the responsibility of social media and PTR the responsibility of statistics. PTR couldn’t digest being relegated to such a position in the party. That is when he decided to resign from the party posting. It is in this context that the party that called him in the first week of January and complained that the DMK’s activity has reduced on social media. PTR, who decided that it was not good for him to continue with the party posting even after that, resigned from his post.
“If social media was not functioning properly, then the leadership should have questioned Mahendran who was made responsible. There is still no clarity on why PTR was questioned. A faction within the party is making it difficult for PTR, in order to make Mahendran the head of the IT wing.”, sources were quoted saying.
Apparently, there is already a tiff in relationships between PTR and someone from the Chief Minister’s family. It is because of that individual’s pressure that PTR is facing heat. According to sources, DMK leader and CM Stalin has still not come to a decision with regard to the resignation letter.
“The legislature will meet until next Friday, after which a decision will be made on the letter which will likely be followed by an announcement. Perhaps, if the CM calls PTR and makes peace, the resignation issue is likely to come to an end as well,” sources from Arivalayam were quoted saying.
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