Arcot N. Veeraswami is a former minister for electricity in the Tamil Nadu State of India. He became the

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

of the

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...

Party and emerged as number three in the party after

Karunanidhi Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...

and

K Anbazhagan Kalyanasundaram Anbazhagan (19 December 1922 – 7 March 2020) was an Indian Politics of Tamil Nadu, Tamil politician. He was a long-standing leader of the Dravidian movement and was the General Secretary of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party (DMK ...

in the early 1980s. He was treated as the right-hand person to

and was also said to be the main peacemaker in the party. He was born in Kuppadichatham village in North Arcot district in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

on 21 April 1931 to Narayanasamy Naidu and Jeyammal couple. He finished his education before actively engaging in politics. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly six times. From 1989 to 1991, during the DMK rule, he served as the Minister for Food and from 1996 to 2001 as the Minister for Health & Electricity. Furthermore, during 2006 - 2011 he served as the Minister for Electricity and Rural Industries.

Politics

Veerasamy worked as a clerk in the state electricity board before being handpicked by DMK's founder, C N Annadurai, as a candidate for the Arcot constituency in 1967; after which he became the treasurer of the DMK Party and emerged as number three in the party after Karunanidhi and K Anbazhagan in the early eighties. Following his rise in popularity, Veerasamy rose in the party's ranks and was unanimously elected as the Treasurer of Dravida Munnetras Kazhagam in 1994 to 2008. He has been a member of the

party for a long time and has been elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly six times. He has participated in several agitations against oppression staged by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and has courted arrest several times, the most notable being MISA in 1976 when he was arrested and tortured for one year. He lost his hearing in one ear. He was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Arcot constituency in 1967 and 1971, Purasaiwalkam constituency in 1989, and Annanagar constituency in 1996, 2001, and 2006 in the General elections. He also served as a Member of the Legislative Council from 1977 to 1988. He was sworn in as Minister of the Govt of Tamil Nadu thrice during 1989,1996 and 2006 as Minister For Food, Minister for Health and Electricity and Minister For Electricity and Rural Industries respectively.

Elections contested and results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veeraswami, Arcot N. 1937 births Living people Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians State cabinet ministers of Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu MLAs 1996–2001 Tamil Nadu politicians