K. A. Krishnaswamy (24 March 1932 – 18 May 2010) was an Indian politician and minister in the

Government of Tamil Nadu The Government of Tamil Nadu () is the administrative body responsible for the governance of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the capital of the state and houses the state executive, legislature and head of judiciary. Under the Const ...

. He was the younger brother of K.A. Murugesan, a DK leader and

K. A. Mathiazhagan K. A. Mathiazhagan was an Indian politician and co-founder of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He served as the Finance Minister, Minister of Food, Revenue and Commercial Taxes in the Tamil Nadu government and Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Leg ...

, a founding leader of the

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; ; DMK) is an Indian political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu, where it is currently the ruling party, and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry, where it is currently the main ...

(DMK). He was the third person from the Kaniyur family to enter politics. Initially he belonged to the DMK and was a member of the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

. In 1972 when

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

(M.G.R.) joined the

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK, also abbreviated as ADMK), also shortened to Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, is an Indian Regionalism (politics), regional political party with great influence in the Federated state, sta ...

(AIADMK), he joined the party as the second member. Krishnaswamy was the first organising secretary of the AIADMK and was the owner and editor of the ''Thennagam'' daily newspaper, which subsequently became the official organ of the AIADMK. He gave the title of Puratchi Thalaivar (Revolutionary Leader) to M.G.R. He was briefly a member of the

Tamil Nadu Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...

before being elected to the

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members, all of whom are democratically elected using the first-past-the-post system. The presiding office ...

from Thousand Lights constituency in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

. He was re-elected in the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, and

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

elections. During 1978–87, he held portfolios such as cooperation, small industries, dairy development and local administration in Ramachandran's cabinet. During 1991–96 he was the minister for law in

J. Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016), popularly known as Amma, was an Indian actress, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years between 1991 and 2016. She ...

's cabinet. He retired from active politics in 1996. Krishnaswamy died on 18 May 2010.

References

1932 births 2010 deaths People from Tiruppur district All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians Members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council Tamil Nadu MLAs 1991–1996 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians Tamil Nadu MLAs 1985–1989 {{AIADMK-politician-stub