Ponnambala Thyaga Rajan Palanivel Rajan (27 February 1932 – 20 May 2006) was an Indian politician. Born into an aristocratic landlord Kondaikatti Thondaimandala Vellalar family in Uthamapalayam. He did his schooling from Trinity College, Kandy, Sri Lanka. He graduated in political science from

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institut ...

and then studied law at Madras Law College. He was a practising lawyer before entering politics in 1967 when he joined 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). Rajan was first 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

Theni Theni is a valley town situated in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu at the foothills of the Western Ghats. It is the headquarters of the Theni district, 70km from Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in th ...

in 1967 and was re-elected in 1971. He was elected in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

from the Madurai West Constituency. In

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

he was defeated by 708 votes after M. K. Alagiri worked against him and other DMK candidates. He was earlier elected to 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 ...

. Rajan was Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 2001. He was elected from Madurai Central and was the Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments 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 ...

at the time of his death on 20 May 2006 at the age of 74.

Madurai Kamaraj University Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) is a public state university located in Madurai city, in southern Tamil Nadu, India, that was established in 1966. MKU is one of the 15 universities in India with the University with Potential for Excellence sta ...

conferred the

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

on him (

Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

) in 1997. His father P. T. Rajan was Chief Minister of Madras Presidency. His son,

Palanivel Thiaga Rajan Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan (PTR) (born 7 March 1966) is an Indian politician and the current Minister of Information Technology and Digital Services of Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election in 2016 and 2021 ...

is an MLA and was the finance minister of Tamil Nadu and now Minister of Information Technology and Digital Services in the M. K. Stalin ministry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palanivel, Rajan 1932 births Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians 2006 deaths Madras Christian College alumni Speakers of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Tamil Nadu MLAs 1996–2001 Tamil Nadu MLAs 2006–2011 Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy