A Raja's profile

A lawyer by profession and the dalit face of DMK, Andimuthu Raja got the coveted Telecom Ministry for the second time in 2009 piping the high-profile Dayanidhi Maran notwithstanding allegations of courruption in the 2G spectrum scam.

A lawyer by profession and the dalit face of DMK, Andimuthu Raja got the coveted Telecom Ministry for the second time in 2009 piping the high-profile Dayanidhi Maran notwithstanding allegations of courruption in the 2G spectrum scam.

HT Image

He got the plum portfolio for his unflinching loyalty to his leader and Tamil nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and also because of his proximity to his daughter Kanimozhi.

From a block-level leader to Union Minister of State and finally a Cabinet minister, Raja's rise in DMK was meteoric as was his fall.

He began his career in the DMK during his student days and is known for his literary skills that drew him close to party President M Karunanidhi, a poet and writer himself.

First elected to Lok Sabha in 1996 when the DMK-TMC alliance in Tamil Nadu swept all the 40 seats in the state, Raja was first made the Union Minister of State for Rural Development in 1999 during the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA Government piping many senior leaders who were hoping to get into the ministry.