Tamil Nadu CM drops IT minister Manikandan from Cabinet

Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday (August 7) dropped Information Technology minister Dr M Manikandan from the state Cabinet. It is reported that this decision was taken in the wake of Manikandan's public criticism of his Cabinet colleague Udumalai Radhakrishnan, who is also the head of the state-run Tamil Nadu Arasu cable TV. He criticised the government’s decision to reduce cable TV charges. With the dropping of Manikandan, the strength of the Palaniswami’s ministry has come down to 31.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has accepted the chief minister's recommendation to drop Manikandan from the council of ministers. Now the portfolio of Information Technology has been re-allocated to RB Udhayakumar, who is the minister for revenue and disaster management.