Chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
NAME – Edappadi K. Palaniswami
PROFESSION- Politician
BORN – 12 May ,1954 (Age 66 years)
PLACE OF BIRTH – Samalapuram
FATHER’S NAME – Karuppa Gounder
MOTHER’S NAME – Thavasi Ammal
SPOUSE – Ratha Palaniswami
CHILDREN – 1 son
EDUCATION – Intermediate
POLITICAL PARTY- All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagan
REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT-
- Funds for buses
- T- nagar pedestrianisation
- Plastic ban
- Chennai Disaster management & Adaptation
- Global investors meet
- Implementation of metro phase I & start of metro phase II
- Life to Port Maduravoyil Projects
- Water Body Restoration & Desalination Plants
- Smart city project
AWARDS – He holds the awards of Honorary Doctorate in 2019, and Paul Harris Fellow in 2020.
Edappadi Karuppa Palaniswami is the 7th and current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He is politically affiliated to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagan.
BACKGROUND – Thiru Edappadi K. Palaniswami was born to Karuppa Gounder Palanisamy in Siluvampalayam in Madras (now Tamil Nadu) district. He was born on May 12, 1954. He is married to Ratha Palaniswami and has a son. Before the beginning of his political career, he was a prominent agriculturist.
UPBRINGING & EDUCATION – Karuppa Gounder Palanisamy is known as Edappadi K. Palaniswami because of the village he is born in, Edappadi.His parents were farmers. After completing school, he enrolled for B.Sc degree in Sri Vasavi College but did not graduate. He has a brother Govindraj and a sister Ranjitham. He is married to Ratha Palaniswami and has one son and is an agriculturalist by occupation.
WALK OF LIFE- Palaniswami was a Jaggery trader before entering into politics. He entered politics as the Volunteer of AIADMK in 1974 he became the Key Member of the party. He elected as Member of Legislative Assembly(MLA) for 4 terms(1989, 1991, 2011, 2016) from the Edappadi constituency. He was elected as Member of Parliament(MP) by defeating K.P.Ramalingam representing Thiruchengodu Constituency in the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998.
He joined the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(AIADMK) party. Palaniswami was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 16-02-2017. Palaniswami also holds the charge of Home, Prohibition & Excise Departments based on his background of being an agriculturist and having grown in an agriculture family, he has expressed interest in promoting Crop rotation, which has been welcomed by the farming community.
He was the Joint Coordinator of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party also served as Minister of Highways and Minor Ports from 16-05-2011 to 22-05-2016.From 2016-2017, he was appointed as Minister of Highways and Minor Ports and Public Works.
MAJOR INITIATIVES TAKEN- He introduced various schemes like Kudimaramaththu Work, FAME India scheme and, Amma Patrol was introduced in Tamil Nadu to ascertain the security of women and children in public places.
POSITION HELD-
1980 – Palanniswami joined politics and soon became a member of AIADMK,
1989– Palanniswami won the state assembly election from Edappadi seat for the first time. He defeated Palanisamy L. of DMK with the margin of just 1364 votes.
1991– He was re-elected to the state assembly from the same constituency. This time he defeated P. Kolandai Gounder of PMK.
1996 -During the 1996 assembly elections, he lost his Edappadi seat. Also, he stood at third position in election results with 28.3% of vote share.
1998 – He won the Lok Sabha seat from Tiruchengode constituency. He defeated Dr. Ramalingam K.P. with the margin of 104,809 votes.
2001– He did not contest TN assembly elections this year.
2006– After 10 years he again tried his luck but was unsuccessful in winning the assembly elections. He lost against Kaveri V.
2011– Palaniswami.K won from Edappadi after around 20 years. He defeated Karthe.M of PMK.
2016– He again won from Edappadi seat. He defeated one of the strong candidates of PMK, Annadurai. N with the margin of 42022 votes.
2017– After Jayalalita’s demise, Sasikala was tried a lot to snatch the power from then CM O Panneerselvam. But due to several allegations, she was sent to jail and Panneerselvam stepped down. Finally AIADMK elected Palaniswami.K as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
Controversies – Edappadi K Palaniswami was linked to the 2017 burglary and murder at the late chief minister’s Kodanadu estate by two suspects in the case : Four months after Jayalalithaa’s death, a suspected gang broke into her 800-acre Kodanadu estate in the Nilgiris district on April 24, 2017. They murdered a security guard and injured another, before escaping with valuables, computer drives and some papers. The estate’s CCTV surveillance system had been either removed or was not working.
