CHENNAI: It was no coincidence that Stalin had named Palanivel Thiagarajan as his finance minister. For Palanivel was the one who had pointed out that the financial situation of Tamil Nadu was in jeopardy for the last five years and refuted the arguments of the former Tamil Nadu finance minister. Stalin was fascinated not only by Palanivel's great political legacy but also by his high qualifications and global views.

Degree in Engineering from NIT, Trichy, MBA from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and doctorate from New York University. He started his professional career at Lehman Brothers in the United States. He later became the Managing Director of Standard Chartered Bank of Singapore.

With such a professional background, Palanivel becoming the treasurer of Tamil Nadu is an indicator of a change in the direction of Dravidian politics. Palanivel Thiagarajanis an international in life too. He is married to Margaret, an American. They have two sons, Palani Thevan Rajan and Vel Thiagarajan.

According to Palanivel, innovative measures are needed to correct Tamil Nadu's financial position. While claiming that the state government's finance went bad during the past seven years, Palanivel added that standard methods will not be able to bring back the state finances to comfortable levels and it needs some innovative measures.

The state's debt is about Rs 5 trillion.